Where The Sun Is Always Shining
by PervyMonk
Summary: While searching the Wasteland for her father, the Lone Wanderer ends up finding herself instead. Eventual F!LWXCharon  Emphasis on the eventual
1. Blindness

Where The Sun Is Always Shining

Chapter One: Blindness

The first thing that comes over her when she flees the vault is a searing blindness. She pushes herself through that flimsy wooden door that no one dared to follow her through, and then she runs right into nothingness.

She is terrified.

Her thoughts are a jumbled mess. _Oh God, the Overseer was right. There isn't anything here. Nothing survived outside of the Vault. It is here you are born, it is here you will die. _

_It is here you will die. _

She falls, and she feels like she will fall forever. Something hard hits her knees, and her hands fly out in front of her wildly to grasp it. She feels something grainy and non-permanent between her fingers. Slowly, the world around her comes into focus. Sloping, jagged hills fill her vision. She stares into an endless sea of brown. She squints, trying to discern if anything lives in this new form of nothingness. She shakily pushes herself up, brushing off her knees, and wiping tears from her eyes.

"God damn it, Dad."

* * *

"Good morning, madam!" an unusually chipper, mechanical voice greets. She groans, and rolls over in her bed.

"Hey Wadsworth," she mumbles. After a few moments, the robot asks,

"Are you going to get up, madam?"

"In a minute," she says. After the promised minute has passed, she sits up, and swings her legs over the edge of the bed.

"How may I serve you, madam?"

"Purified water. All you can make. I'm going out today," she says with a conviction she doesn't feel.

"Certainly, madam!" Wadsworth chirps. As he processes the condensation to make the water, she stands up to ready herself.

Two months. She has been here two goddamn months, and the closest she had gotten to finding her father were the cryptic words, "Go to GNR." Yeah, GNR.

In super mutant infested D.C.

She came across a super mutant once, and had run her ass back to Megaton as fast as her privileged, Vault-dweller legs could carry her. If she were to be completely honest with herself, she was simply stalling. She was stalling because she was scared. Fucking terrified, if she wasn't in the mood to mince words. She was frightened of every damn thing in the Wastes, from molerats and radscorpions to mirelurks and super mutants. This world brought her to her knees when she first fled the vault, and she isn't sure she ever got back up.

She rummages through her filing cabinet, pulling out some leather armor. She shrugs into it and holsters her weapons. Shotgun on her back, pistol on her hip, knife in her boot. She walks down the steps of her derelict house, and sighs. She grabs a pair of sunglasses from the lockers, idly wondering if she'll need them today. Wadsworth greets her at the door.

"Here you are," he says, depositing five bottles of water into her outstretched hands. She grumbles her thanks, grabbing her pack from beside the door, and leaves. She inhales sharply as the sunlight hits her eyes. She could have never imagined anything as bright as the sun back on the vault.

She makes her way top Moriarty's to say goodbye to Gob and Nova. Jericho shoves past her before she can reach the door handle.

"Get lost, kid," he says, his breath smelling like whiskey. She stares him down for an intense second before he mutters a curse and stalks off. She lets out a relieved sigh as she slumps against the door. She thought Jericho was an asshole, but she was still terrified of him. After steadying herself, she pushes the door open. Gob shoots her a weary smile as he continues to wipe off drinking glasses.

"Mornin', Sunshine," he greets. She involuntarily winces, still unused to another voice calling her by the nickname her father used. _Uses, _she corrects herself firmly. She plasters on a smile.

"Hey, Gob! Rough night?" He shrugs.

"No rougher than usual," he answers. She decides not to notice the stiffness of his posture, or the tightness of his voice.

"Where's Nova?" she asks. He casts his eyes downward.

"Still asleep," he answers softly. "She had a busy night." Sunshine feels like kicking herself.

"Well then," she says awkwardly.

"Yeah, how about that," Gob grumbles. She swallows, trying to wet her dry throat. Gob sets his glass down.

"Wanna drink?" he offers. She nods, and he takes the glass he just wiped down. "Water, right?"

"Right," she answers, trying not to focus on the stains still on the glass. He sets it in front of her and she dutifully takes a gulp.

"What brings you here so early, anyway?" Gob asks. She swallows, holding the glass in both of her hands. The water instantly becomes more interesting than Gob's face.

"I'm going to go look for my dad," she answers finally. "I've come to say goodbye." She sees Gob's resulting wince out of the corner of her eye.

"How long will you be gone?" he asks quietly.

"I have no idea," she answers honestly, moving her gaze from her water to the floor. Gob sighs, and the glass he was wiping down clinks against the counter.

"Right," he says tightly. "Goodbye. Be careful and all of that." She nods, setting her glass down. Suddenly, she isn't so thirsty anymore. She moves to leave, but makes the mistake of looking back at Gob. His eyes are downcast, and a frown creases his already ruined features.

"Hey," she says softly. "I'll come back. Pinky swear." She holds her pinky out. He smiles, but his eyes don't light up. He wraps his pinky around hers, and they shake on it.

"I'll hold you to this," he says. She nods, and her first real smile of the day breaks through. It falls quickly from her face when a laugh devoid of any mirth echoes through the saloon. Sunshine cuts her eyes up to see Moriarty laughing. He shakes his head, and walks down the stairs. Gob tenses as Moriarty walks behind the counter, but the man pays him no attention. He gives them another look before snorting, and closing the door to his terminal behind him.

"Ass," she mutters under her breath. She resists pulling Gob into a hug, and instead leaves two stimpacks on the counter as she leaves.

* * *

Lucas Simms catches her at the gate.

"Mighty fine thing you did for this town," he says, and his face has a gentle expression. "Never did get a chance to say that to you." She laughs nervously.

"Thanks."

"Where are you headed today?" She inwardly balks at the question.

"I'm going away for a little while. To find my dad," she explains. Simms nods sympathetically.

"Did you ask Jericho to teach you how to shoot yet?" he asks expectantly.

"Uh, well, you see," she stammers. He sighs, placing a hand over his eyes.

"You didn't, did you?"

"That would be a no," she answers. He lets out a long suffering sigh.

"Look, now I know the two of you aren't on the best of terms," he begins, but Sunshine interrupts him.

"I hadn't noticed," she grumbles.

"_But_," he interjects firmly. "You can't just go running around the wastes handling a gun the way you do. It'll be a damn quick way to get yourself killed. Now, come on," he scolds. Sunshine grumbles to herself all the way to Jericho's house. They were practically neighbors, but there wasn't anything neighborly about the ex-raider. She is sure Jericho would rather shoot her himself, and blame it on a hangover, then teach her how to shoot. Simms knocks on Jericho's door. A muffled curse rings out inside, along with the shattering of a glass being thrown against the door.

"Now, Jericho," Simms starts. "I know you ain't the friendliest man in the bunch, but I let you stay here anyway. The way I see it, you owe me a favor. " Another curse rings out, which is then followed by a vehement,

"I don't owe you _shit_!" Simms sighs, and rubs his temples.

"Jericho, stop being difficult and open the door." A long silence follows before a red-eyed and angry Jericho answers the door. "See, that wasn't so hard, now, was it?" Simms asks serenely.

"Why can't you teach me to shoot?" she almost whines.

"Because Jericho is a crack shot. You would be hard-pressed to find to find a better man to teach you here in Megaton," he answers.

"Means he's too busy to teach you, kid," Jericho pipes in. Sunshine glares at him, and tries not to whimper when he glares back.

"You two get along now," Simms calls over his shoulder as he walks away. As soon as Simms is out of earshot, Sunshine offers,

"I won't tell if you won't."

"Deal," he answers, and slams the door in her face.

And so, the Lone Wanderer enters the Wasteland once again, with nominal shooting skills, and a generous amount of luck.


	2. Sparks

Sorry this is such a short chapter, you guys. DX I have finals next week. I'll hopefully have more up when they're over.

* * *

Chapter Two: Sparks

"This is a disaster," Sunshine moans, her face in her hands. Crazy Wolfgang balances himself on the balls of his feet nervously.

"It's not that bad," he says. She looks up at him.

"You said D.C is to the south east of here," she accuses. He licks his chapped lips.

"Well, yeah. It is," he answers. She throws her hands up in the air, startling the already perturbed man.

"That means I've been going the wrong way!" He puts his hands up nervously,

"You ever heard of that old world saying, don't kill the messenger? That would be me, and I'd prefer it if you'd calm down." She eyes him petulantly before sighing.

"You're right. Sorry," she says. Crazy Wolfgang jumps back as she pushes herself off of the gutted Corvega she had been sitting on. "I should be thanking you for helping me before I managed to make my way out of the Capitol Wasteland entirely."

"Right then. Thanks for the business," he answers. "I'll just be on my way now." She nods sullenly.

"Thanks again for the help, Mr. Wolfgang," she says. She takes off walking again, her pack lighter and her heart heavier. Crazy Wolfgang stifles a laughs before calling out to her.

"Miss?" She turns to look back at him.

"Yeah?"

"You're going the wrong way. D.C is that way," he says, pointing behind him. He laughs as she enters a new bout of swearing, while never letting his hand stray from his pistol.

* * *

She sighs as she plops down between decaying Corvegas and rusted motorcycles. There is still no telling how far away from D.C she is, but night has fallen, and she isn't comfortable going out into the wastes while the sun lies dormant. While the sun shines down on her, she can pretend that everything is going to be all right, and that she isn't afraid. It's so much harder to lie to herself in the cold darkness of nightfall. Sunshine builds a meager fire, and draws her knees to her chest.

Things had gone well for her so far. She hadn't come across anything more dangerous than a vicious, feral dog. Well, except for that giant radscorpion, but she had turned tail and fled before it had caught sight of her. While she is fond of her weathered 10 mm pistol, she feels confident that the giant radscorpion would have just been pissed off by the bullets it would fire.

She looks up at the vast expanse of stars, and feels an ache in her chest. She has been so unbearably lonely since leaving the Vault. She wishes, not for the first time, that her father had never left the safety of the Vault. Things could have stayed the way they were before, and Sunshine feels that she would have remained content to live the rest of her life surrounded by the cold steel walls she knew so well. Everything is so alien here, from the people to the mutated animals and the dogs barking in the night.

She straightens up as she hears a dog actually barking. She grabs her gun from her holster, and crouches down to avoid detection by whatever may be out there. She wonders if it's another vicious dog, made savage by eking out a life in the wasteland. She feels pity for the poor creatures, but she's finally come to understand the saying "A mad dog needs to be put down." She peeks around a pile of cars and sees a group of people congregating around a dead body. She knows who they are by the blood that covers their armor.

Raiders, a class of people so heinous that they would take simple pleasure in destroying a person. Though she had never seen any in person, she had listened to the stories that Simms told her, and observed Jericho when he wasn't paying attention. They are poking a ragged looking dog with their knives, and the animal struggles to stand on shaky legs. She feels pity for the poor creature, and she has no love for the raiders that torture him. The animal eventually, much to the raiders' delight, lies over on his side. She sets a few frag mines down next to a pile of useless chassis of cars. She quietly sneaks past the raiders, keeping to the shadows that the piles in the scrap yard afford to her. When she gets close the building they're standing by, she throws a rusted tired rim at the group of cars that hide the frag mines.

The raiders turn their attention away from the dog, and move toward the trap. _Yes! _She thinks jubilantly. She moves toward the dog to check the extent of his injuries. His blue eyes roll up to give her a numb look. She gently strokes the animal's head before fishing a stimpack out of the bag on her back. He whimpers as she injects him with the medicine, but the wound begins to close enough for her to carry the poor animal. She gently slips her hands underneath the dog, and gently lifts him into her arms. She stands.

"You're dead meat!" a raider that catches sight of her yells. She tranquilly looks down at the animal in her arms.

"That would be our cue to get out here, wouldn't it, boy?" she asks, and a weak bark answers her. As she exits the scrap yard, she hears an alarmed "Oh, shit!" ring out before the explosion engulfs the scene in flames.


	3. The Creatures in the Metro

Chapter 3: Creatures in the Metro

Sunshine wasn't making it to D.C as fast as she would have liked. In addition to getting constantly turned around, the dog she had saved remained slightly leery of her. She feels like the only reason she makes any progress with him at all is because of Cram.

"There you go, boy," she coos softly, sliding the rubbery meat out of it's two-century old tin casing. It lands with a sickening thump on his bowl, and he happily begins to eat it. Mealtimes are when she is the most bold with him. She cautiously reaches out to stroke his fur. She feels the weathered edge of a collar. Slowly, she inches closer to get a better look. The dog continues to eat happily, but keeps a wary gaze on her. She gently lifts the tag on the collar to read it, and bites back a laugh.

"_Dogmeat?" _she asks incredulously. "Your name is _Dogmeat?" _Dogmeat barks, as if in affirmation. "I guess that's why you wouldn't answer to Spot." She tentatively pets his ear, and for the first time since she found him, he doesn't growl at the attention.

"Well then, Dogmeat. Are you enjoying your Cram?" she asks gently. He barks again, and actually nuzzles her hand. She rips open a box of InstaMash, and feeds him bits of the rough, clumpy starch as she eats. He licks her fingers, and she bites back a small squeal of delight.

Back in the Vault, she had read stories of young heroes and their canine companions. She remembers pleading with her father to find her a puppy, because she was five and he was her daddy, and he could do _anything_.

He had smiled sadly, and patted her head. He told her that their vault was unfortunate to not have room enough for dogs, and it was a great loss for everyone.

Coarse fur rubbing against her arm startles her from her reminiscing. Dogmeat looks at her warily before curling up next to her. She carefully reaches out to pet him, and he nuzzles her hand again.

"You're a good dog," she says softly, her hands running through his matted and grimy fur. She winces, and doesn't relish the prospect of having to bathe him. He yawns and, safely nestled against her side, falls asleep. She lies down as well, staring at the stars. She tries to remember the constellations that her father had taught her, but the yellowing pages of books didn't do justice to the vast expanse of stars the sky became at night.

"I hope you're safe, Dad," she whispers, hugging Dogmeat before falling asleep.

* * *

She wakes up to the most horrible smell. She opens her eyes to see Dogmeat happily panting in her face. She feels drool slide down the side of her cheek. His mismatched eyes gleam with mischief.

"Gross," she grumbles, sitting up and wiping it off with the back of her hand. He yips, and licks her face. She giggles, gently pushing him away, and wiping her face again. She stands, throwing her pack over her shoulder.

"We shouldn't be that far from Farragut Metro Station, boy. That means we're close to D.C!" she declares. "That is, if I haven't gotten us lost again." She scratches the back of her head and looks around.

"Damn it, which way is west?" she says, looking down at her Pip-Boy in frustration.

* * *

Sunshine double-checks, and then triple-checks, the sign in front of the metro station. Each time it reads 'Farragut West Metro Station.'

"I think this is the place, Dogmeat," she says, a grin breaking over her face. (However, she checks the sign one more time-just in case.)

She wanders through the flimsy metal grate. The dampness of the metro catches her off-guard. She scrunches her nose against a smell she can't identify, and Dogmeat emanates a harsh growl. She pulls out her pistol and holds it in front of her. The unfamiliar weight does little to help her apprehension. The smell gets stronger with each step she takes. Dogmeat's growl rises to a low rumble, almost drowning out the inhuman scream that echoes through the metro.

"What the hell?" she whispers, eyes darting left to right rapidly. She doesn't see anything. A pounding echoes in her ears but she can't tell if it's her heartbeat, or thundering footsteps. Her arms begin to quiver. Dogmeat turns to look behind her, barking wildly. She turns just in time to see an emaciated figure lunge at her. She throws herself to the side, feeling sharp nails-or are they claws?- dig into her chest. With an undignified yelp, she falls backwards onto the hard concrete.

And the monster she stares up at is death personified.

The creature's milky eyes connect with hers, and it lets out a horrible screech. More screeches follow in reply. _Oh God. There's more than one. _It tilts it's head and pounces on her. She screams as it bites into her shoulder, holding her down with an iron grip. It begins to chew, eliciting another scream of pain. Dogmeat slams into the creature's side, and knocks it off of her. It hisses, swiping at Dogmeat. She raises her gun. The first shot misses, and the second catches it in the torso. It staggers to it's feet, and she shoots it in the leg. When it falls over, she meets it's eyes again. She points the gun at the monster's face, and closes her eyes as she pulls the trigger.

When she stands, she stumbles against a wall. She retches, and then throws up the remains of breakfast. Whatever that thing was used to be a person. A person that thought, and laughed, and loved someone once. She coughs and spits, trying to rid herself of the horrible taste that has taken up residence in her mouth. She hears the screams again, and her face hardens. After reloading her gun, she takes a tentative step forward. Dogmeat follows at her heels. She looks around the corner to see a group of them sniffing the air, and lumbering toward where she and Dogmeat are. She glances down at her wound. _They can smell it. Shit._ She aims down the sights of her gun and fires a shot off at the one closest to them. Dogmeat runs and tackles a second one. She manages to take one of them down before they swarm her. She takes a deep breath and dodges a slash from one, only to be hit by another. Keeping her balance, she presses the barrel of the 10 mm to the chest of one, and shoots. She punches another in the face and it latches on with it's teeth. She swears and knocks it over the head with the handle of the pistol. Once it lets go, she kicks it away and puts a few rounds in it. Claws rake her cheek. She puts some distance between her and the last one before putting it out of it's misery.

One all of the creatures are killed, the only sounds left to keep her and Dogmeat company are the echoes from the gunshots and Sunshine's heavy breathing. Dogmeat walks up with a smug look on his face, and an arm in his teeth. She winces and crouches down.

"Leggo," she says, reluctantly tugging on the body part. Dogmeat growls and tries to pull it away from her. "If you drop it, I'll give you some Cram." The arm lands in her hand with a sickening thump. Making a face, she throws it away from them. Dogmeat sits and looks at her expectantly.

"Yeah, yeah," she says, making a face at the dog. She fishes his bowl out of her pack, and cracks open a can of Cram. Once it's free from it's tin casing, Dogmeat begins to devour it. She reaches out to pet him, and he looks up. He begins licking the wound on her hand. She hisses, jerking away from him.

"Guess I better take care of these, huh?" she says, gesturing to her injuries. Sunshine rummages around until she finds some gauze and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Nova had teased her for rescuing the rubbing alcohol. She had said if it wasn't any good for drinking, then it had no use. But she had allowed Sunshine to treat the wounds she had acquired from Moriarty with it. She shakes her head at the memory, and pulls her now ruined shirt over her head. She sighs, and throws it to the side. There would be no rescuing it. Five large gashes on her chest, three on her left side, and two bite wounds for her trouble. She looks at a happily uninjured Dogmeat with derision.

"Let's hope we don't come across many more of those things, huh? You'd be ok, but I sure wouldn't," she says. Dogmeat barks in response, licking his bowl clean. She cleans the wounds on her side and chest without much difficultly. The one on her shoulder is harder. She disinfects it and begins to examine it. The creature's teeth had left deep, ragged holes that were just starting to slow their bleeding. Sunshine mutters a few choice swear words that would disappoint her father. She needs to sew it up, but she doesn't have the materials or the time. After injecting it with a stimpak, she wraps it in gauze as well as she is able to, and hopes it won't get infected. She pours some rubbing alcohol on her hand, hissing at the sting. After bandaging it, she flexes it a couple of time. It hurts, but it isn't anything that will keep her down.

Now, to find another shirt. She knows she found one during her travels. After fighting with everything in the pack, she finally finds one. It's a little less ragged than the one she discarded, but not by much. She slips it over her head. It'll have to do until she comes across another one. She pulls out a bottle of water, taking a swig.

"You ready?" she asks. Dogmeat barks what Sunshine takes to be an affirmation. She pours some water down his throat. After getting his fill (and making a mess all over her), he licks her face. She stands, and swings her pack on her uninjured shoulder. "Let's go."

They manage to make it through the metro without any further incidents, and when they exit Sunshine feels that the sign proclaiming 'Chevy Chase' is the most beautiful thing she'd seen since leaving the Vault.

"Almost there," she breathes. Gunshots sound out and instantly kill her good mood. "Hell's bells," she swears, pulling her pistol out of her holster. "What now?"


	4. Get The Fatman!

Chapter Four: Get the Fatman!

When Sunshine reaches the top of the stairs, there is a war going on throughout the abandoned streets of D.C. Super mutants and people in strange suits of armor are shooting at each other, yelling obscenities back and forth. She looks for a way to avoid the scene. She spots an exit down a back alley, and steps toward it. A super mutant with a sledgehammer blocks her way.

"Time to die!" it bellows, swinging the sledgehammer at her. She shoots it in the chest, but that doesn't slow it down. "Aaaah! STUPID LADY!" She fires her gun again, only to have it jam.

"Shit," she swears, hitting the butt of her gun desperately. The super mutant races toward her, sledgehammer raised high above its head. She scrambles backwards to get away from it, and ends up tripping in her hurry to get away. She lands on her back, and the jagged concrete digs into her skin. The super mutant takes two red beams of light to the head before unceremoniously falling over. She looks up to see a man in an odd suit of armor glaring down at her.

"Get out of here, local," he growls, holstering his laser rifle. "Before you get yourself killed." She pulls herself up, and pats a growling Dogmeat's head.

"Shh, boy. It's alright now," she says, trying to slow the beating of her heart.

"Look," an angry voice calls. "I don't know who you are, but you don't belong here." Sunshine looks up to see a livid blonde woman in the same armor the man is dressed in. She stands, proud of herself for not wincing.

"I'm sorry?" Sunshine apologizes unsurely.

"Why are you here?" the woman demands.

"I'm looking for Galaxy News Radio," Sunshine answers. The woman's eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"You're going to Galaxy News?" she asks, looking the girl up and down doubtfully.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm looking for my father," Sunshine answers, nervously shifting from foot to foot. The woman shakes her head.

"The super mutants have overrun our brothers at the Galaxy News Radio building, and we're going there to back them up. You can tag along if you want," she says. As an afterthought, she adds, "Don't do anything stupid." The man who saved Sunshine from the super mutant strides up.

"What the hell are you doing, Lyons?" he demands. The woman shrugs.

"We could use the extra bullets. Lighten up, Vargas," she answers. "All right, pride! Let's move out!" A group of armored individuals seemingly come out of the cracks in the destroyed buildings to follow the blonde woman. Vargas gives Sunshine a brief look before muttering an "Aw, hell" and stalking off. Sunshine throws her 10 mm pistol in her pack and quickly fishes out a .32. She doesn't like it as much because it's weaker, but it's as good a back up gun as any.

There are more mutants the further they go on, but the strange soldiers take them out with their laser rifles before Sunshine can fire any shots out. She stops to scavenge a decent assault carbine, much to the chagrin of the group. Her eyes wander over the crumbling buildings, and feels awe at how they're still standing, albeit a bit shakily, after all of this time.

They enter an area crawling with soldiers fighting mutants. Sunshine raises her rifle, and starts shooting. Sarah Lyons had been right; the courtyard is thick with the yellow-skinned beasts. Some fall screaming by her bullets, but more by laser fire. She feels like she's firing useless bullets. Dogmeat, thankfully, has the good sense to stay close to her. A bullet whizzes past her head with a deafening screech, and she takes cover behind a destroyed wall. She reloads her rifle, and shoots when she hears the mutants reloading. Much to Sunshine's surprise, the group clears out the mutants with few, if any, causalities.

"All right!" a female soldier no older than Sunshine yells, pumping her fist in the air. She's dancing around Vargas, who has a disgruntled look on his face. She shoots a few victory rounds into the air.

"Knock it off, Redding," he snaps. "Show's not over yet. Scan the area."

"Yeah, yeah," she says, waving her hand dismissively before running off. Sunshine stands, brushing dust off of her shoulder.

And the Earth begins to tremble.

She looks around in surprise. There is a great thundering that sounds suspiciously like footsteps. But nothing can be that big-

"Redding! Get out of there!" a desperate shout interrupts her thoughts. She hears an explosion and takes cover behind the wall she used earlier, seeing Redding fly to the side out of the corner of her eye. Pieces of concrete slam against her makeshift barricade, and she can see the thick material crack. She winces at the thought of what that means for Redding.

"Behemoth!" someone yells. Sunshine sees Lyons scrambling backwards, reloading her laser rifle.

"Get the fatman!" she screams. Sunshine looks toward the dry, quivering fountain to see a fatman glittering in the sunlight. She takes off running toward it, trying to keep her balance on the quaking ground. She stumbles, catching herself on the dead soldier next to the fatman. She winces as her hand lands in a puddle of blood. She pulls the fatman to her, and fumbles loading a mini-nuke into it. She braces the massive nuclear missile launcher on her shoulder, and swings it around to aim it at the behemoth. She's only got one shot at this. Dogmeat barks at her heels.

"Take cover!" She yells, and the behemoth turns to look at her. She feels nauseous staring at the necklace of giant skulls that adorn the monster's neck. It purposefully takes a step toward her, and she pulls the trigger. Time slows down as the nuke dances through the air. Sunshine fears that the missile will miss its mark, but it catches the behemoth in the shoulder. Dropping the fatman, she grabs Dogmeat and ducks behind the fountain. A booming explosion sounds, and she winces at the volume of it. She hears the Geiger counter on her Pip-Boy ticking furiously. She peaks her head around the fountain to see the behemoth sway. It emits one final, death-curdling roar, and falls over dead. Small pieces of the weathered old buildings begin to rain down on the group.

"I'll be damned," Lyons says, whistling lowly. Sunshine stands, releasing Dogmeat. "Looks like you proved yourself, kid." Sunshine gives the soldier a weak grin before sinking down again. The girl quivers, looking down at her shaking hands. She fights the urge to pass out as she looks up at Lyons.

"We'll have to do something about that iron constitution of yours," the woman says sarcastically. "But, in all seriousness, thank you."

"I'd like to talk to Three Dog now," Sunshine replies weakly. Lyon nods, motioning to the radio station that towers over them.

"Go on, kid. You earned it." Taking a deep breath, she stands again, and finds her legs less shaky than before. She smiles down at Dogmeat.

"Let's go." He barks an affirmative, and she begins making her winding way through the rubble. She holds her nose as she passes the behemoth. The smell of it reminds her of rotting mole rat corpses. Her heart tightens as she sees Vargas standing over the corpse of Redding. The hard look in his eyes is made harder by grief. She walks up to him, and he barely acknowledges her. Out of impulse, she throws her arms around him. He stiffens in surprise.

"Sorry," she whispers before letting go and quickly bounding up the steps to GNR. She ignores the way his eyes burn holes in the back of her head. She presses the intercom, and speaks into it.

"Hello? I'm here to see Three Dog," she says, unsure as to how loud her voice needs to be.

"All clear. Come on in," a disembodied voice says from the intercom. Sunshine takes a deep breath, and pushes open the doors to the radio station. Soldiers mill about inside, and some stop to look at her in surprise.

"That's was pretty impressive, kid," one of them says, and she blushes furiously.

"I'm looking for Three Dog," she says, and he jerks one thumb behind him.

"Up the stairs and through the door." She thanks him and follows the stairs to find one single undestroyed door. She knocks, and doesn't hear a response. She opens it anyway.

"Hello?" she calls as the door clicks closed behind her. "Dad? Mr. Three Dog?" She finds another set off stairs, and sees a man with glasses and a head wrap standing at the top with a crazy grin on his face.

"The look on your face says it all," he says, and Sunshine wonders if she's that easy to read. He points to himself with his right thumb. "You're wondering who this guy is, and why you should care. Well, prepare to be enlightened! I'm Three Dog, jockey of disks and teller of truths! Lord and master of the finest radio station to grace the wastes-Galaxy News Radio." The way he speaks sounds odd, like he was a character from one of the old Vault holodisks instead of an actual, flesh and blood person. She opens her mouth to speak, but Three Dog beats her to it.

"And you. I know who you are. Heard about you leavin' the Vault, travelin' the unknown. Just like dear old Dad, hmm? Met him already-"

"Please!" she says desperately, cutting him off. "Where is my dad? Is he here?"

"Hey, hey! One thing at a time. Nah, your old man ain't here. Not anymore. He heard ole' Three Dog on the radio, and figured I knew what was what out here in the Capital Wasteland. He was right. So I filled the old man in. But he split. Looks like I've got my way of contributing to the Good Fight, and he's got his own." Sunshine's shoulders slump, but she keeps speaking.

"The Good Fight?" She asks, genuinely interested. She'd heard Gob speak of it a couple of times, but couldn't get anything more than a vague idea of it out of him past his blind adoration for Three Dog.

"Imagine a picture, okay? A picture of the Capital Wasteland. All that brick and rock. A whole lot of nothing, right? There's people out there just trying to barely make it by from day to day. Fighting to stay alive, and make something of what they got. But then you've got all of this shit. Raiders, slavers, super mutants. They all want a piece of the pie, too- and they aim to take it by force. "

"So you fight the Good Fight with your voice on the radio!" Sunshine says, catching on. He laughs.

"Well, aren't you just a chip off the old block. Just like your dad," he says. A feeling of misery wells up inside Sunshine's chest, and she doesn't know what to say.

* * *

Ok! We should meet Charon in the next chapter. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this. You guys are awesome!


	5. Boom, Headshot!

Chapter Five: Boom, Headshot!

Sunshine hates D.C.

Three Dog asked her to help with the Good Fight, and find another broadcast relay. She is more than willing to do so, but is a little upset that he's bargaining her father's location. She'd refused to bargain with Moriarty, instead hacking his terminal.

At least Three Dog didn't want her to kill anyone.

That thought brings her little solace as she and Dogmeat make their way through the Mall, after nearly losing life and limb by traversing through another monster-infested metro.

"STUPID LADY!"

"Not again," she groans, taking cover as a barrage of bullets fly toward her. She should have never sold her shotgun to Crazy Wolfgang. She desperately looks for a place to run to. She sees a building that still looks elegant, even after all of this time. A weathered banner reads 'Museum' in peeling letters, but she can't see any other words from this vantage point.

"Look at that, Dogmeat! Maybe that's where we need to go," she says to the dog while aiming over the barricade to shoot at a reloading super-mutant. It falls, and she takes off running with Dogmeat at her heels. The doors come into view and a grin cracks over her face. She's so close! She just has a few more yards and-

A sharp pain blossoms through her calf. She cries out, hitting the ground. A sick feeling settles in her stomach as she looks down at her leg to see blood running down the length of her calf down onto the broken concrete. A super mutant charges her, only to fall with a hole in it's head.

"God damn tourist!" an angry voice yells. She looks up to see an angry ghoul woman glaring down at her. The woman aims her shotgun and fells another mutant. She holds her hand out to Sunshine, and pulls the girl up.

"Thank you," she says gratefully, keeping pressure off of her leg.

"Come on, smoothskin. Let's get you to Doctor Barrows." The woman lets her lean on her, and they make their way toward the museum.

"Is this the Museum of Technology?" Sunshine asks hopefully.

"No, it's the Musuem of History. Museum of Technology is across the way." Sunshine purses her lips as she looks behind her. Across the trenches filled with super mutants with miniguns.

"Damn." They walk through the peeling wooden doors, and the first thing Sunshine sees is a dusty skeleton of a dinosaur.

"Neat," she says, neck straining to see the top. The ghoul chuckles.

"Tourist," she says, shaking her head.

"I'm not a tourist," Sunshine protests.

"You're here in the Mall of the greatest city in the country. You're a tourist, kid," she says, still chuckling. "I'm Willow."

"Sunshine," she answers as they near black double doors with a giant skull over them. A dark sign proclaiming 'Underworld' catches her attention. "Underworld? Hey, my friend Gob is from here!"

"Gob, huh? You should probably see Carol when you're patched up," Willow says, and they walk in. A beautiful, if dusty, rotunda greets them, and it buzzes with activity. Sunshine feels a little out of place in the sea of ghouls. A ghoul in a Robco jumpsuit strolls up.

"Hey, Willow. Who's the smoothskin?" he asks, eyeing Sunshine and Dogmeat.

"Some tourist I rescued from super mutants. Do me a favor and take her to Doc Barrows, all right? I gotta make sure the muties haven't started overrunning the lobby," Willow says, handing the girl over. The male ghoul dutifully extends her arm for her to lean on.

"We got us a smoothskin visitor, huh? Hoooeee. We haven't seen one of your kind here in a while," he says. He begins leading her to the back of the rotunda.

"What does smoothskin mean?" she asks. She'd been called the term before, but didn't know the origin.

"Smoothskin. You know, because your skin is so smooth. And tasty," he says. She looks at him uneasily. He laughs. "Relax! I'm just kidding! Had you going there though, didn't I?"

"You sure did," she says with a weak chuckle. "What's your name?"

"Winthrop. I keep this junk heap running," he answers. "We're running a little low on scrap metal though."

"I have some in my pack if you'd like it," she offers. They reach the back of the room, and she feels the sign proclaiming 'Chop Shop' above the doors doesn't bode well.

"Thanks, kid," he says, and gives her a toothy grin. They enter, and Sunshine gags on the stench. She sees one of the monsters that haunt the metros on the operating table. It's dead, but she can't help but jump back from it.

"Don't worry. That feral ghoul is dead," a ghoul in bloodied surgical scrubs says.

"Feral?" she murmurs, eyeing the corpse.

"I'm Doctor Barrows. Let's see about getting you patched up." Winthrop helps her sit on one of the beds, and she rummages through her pack for the scrap metal to give to him. He thanks her before leaving, and Doctor Barrows looks at her leg.

"They got you good, didn't they?"

"Yes, sir." He inhales deeply, and fixes his eyes on her shoulder.

"Your shoulder is infected as well."

"Yes, sir. I was bitten by a mon-by a feral ghoul," she explains. He nods, moving the fabric of her sleeve to the side. He continues to work in silence, and Sunshine contents herself to looking at the cracked ceiling. She hisses through clenched teeth as he disinfects the wounds, and injects her with stimpaks. Her vision swims a little after the injections and the wounds burn as they begin to heal.

"There you go," he says, wiping his hands on his scrubs. "That'll be sixty caps." She dutifully fishes out the money and gives it to him.

"Thank you," she says, hoping off of the bed. Her leg is a little sore, but she can walk on it.

"I'd rest for a couple of days," he says. She nods.

"Sure thing. Is there an inn?"

"Carol's Place. Up the stairs and to the right." As she leaves the clinic, she notices a comatose blonde woman. _Wonder what's wrong with her,_she thinks. She makes her way to the stairs, and sees a black Mr,Gutsy floating by.

"Hello," she says. "What can you tell me about this place?"

"Underworld is a town of peace-loving ghouls, so check your bigotry at the door! They're just like humans! They feel, they hurt, they bleed! They deserve the same love and respect as any other human, and don't you forget it!" it proclaims. Underneath it's breath, the robot says, "Damn this zombie programming." She giggles, and allows it to float past her. She walks into the first double doors she sees, and promptly waltzes into a mostly empty bar.

"Um," she says, looking around. A tall ghoul leaning in the corner looks her up and down, as if appraising her for any weapons. She walks up to him, smiling.

"Hello," she says. "I'm looking for-"

"No," he says abruptly. "Talk to Ahzrukhal." Her face falls.

"But I just-" He leans forward, and she bites back a small yelp as she takes a step back.

"Talk. To. Ahzrukhal." She backs up further from him.

"Ok, fine. Jeez," she mutters. The ghoul leans up against the wall again, his face expressionless. She turns when she hears deep chuckling. She sees a greening ghoul in a business suit wiping down the bar. He grins when she takes a seat.

"Well, lookee here. A smoothskin I ain't ever see before. I'm Ahzrukhal, and this," he pauses dramatically. "This is the Ninth Circle."

"I'm looking for Carol's Place," she says, and his eyes narrow.

"I don't talk about her. I don't like competition," he growls.

"Sorry? I just need a place to sleep." And like magic, that slimy grin is back.

"Why don't you take a load off? Order a drink," he says. "You could sleep here. We have extra beds." She tries not to shudder.

"I guess I'll take a Nuka Cola then, sir," she says. His smile fades a fraction as he slides the soda to her. She pops it open, depositing the cap in her satchel. She looks around the bar, and her eyes fall on the ghoul in the corner. She catches his hard gaze, and promptly lowers her eyes down to her soda.

"What's that guy's problem?" she murmurs against the glass bottle. Ahzrukhal chuckles next to her ear, causing her to jump and slosh soda on the front of her shirt.

"That's Charon. He's, well. Let's just say he's a loyal employee. Don't mess with me, and he won't mess with you." The way he says 'loyal' makes chills run up Sunshine's spine.

"A loyal employee?" she asks, eyeing the other ghoul doubtfully. "What do you mean by that?"

"I hold his contract, which makes me his employer. He will do what I ask, when I ask, without question," he says gleefully. "You see, Charon grew up around an interesting group of individuals. They, well. I guess you can say they brainwashed him." She looks back at the other ghoul-Charon- and tenses when he looks back. His eyes are stone cold, and they move to focus on Ahzrukhal. She gets the feeling that he can hear every word being said. "He is absolutely loyal to whoever holds his contract. Unfailing, unflinching, until the day that employment ends."

"So, he's your slave?" she whispers, disgust filling her every pore. Ahzrukhal tsks.

"Madam, you offend me. I abhor slavery. He is simply a valuable employee. I point at something, and Charon hurts it. He is the best a corrupt bartender could ask for," he says, looking fondly toward Charon. The other ghoul's eyes burn with a hate that makes Sunshine's heart clench. Charon turns away, and she makes up her mind. She spins her chair around to face Ahzrukhal.

"How much?"

"Pardon?"

"How much for his contract?" she asks. "I want it." She can't leave him here. It wouldn't be right. Ahzrukhal laughs, and the sound makes her want to cover her ears.

"Oh, would you now? He is a highly valuable asset to me and the Ninth Circle. What would you have in mind?"

"A thousand caps," she offers, and gets a barking laugh in response.

"No dice. Come back when you're ready to make a real offer," he scoffs, turning away from her. She looks back at Charon, and strengthens her resolve.

"Two thousand," she says, grabbing his sleeve. He raises an eyebrow.

"Oh? Now you're talking," he says. She bites her lip, and he says, "I'd be willing to make a deal if you don't want to spend that much. You may not like what I have to offer."

"What kind of deal?"

"The fact that there is another source of booze in town troubles me. Greta, the waitress over at Carol's," he says, his face creasing menacingly. "I want you to kill her." She meets his gaze with a stone cold look of her own.

"I'll pay the caps," she answers darkly, sliding her satchel over to him. "There should be two thousand in there." He eyes the satchel greedily before snatching it. He opens the bag to begin counting.

"Very well," he says, handing her a weathered piece of paper. She looks at it, but it is so worn that the writing has faded away. All she can make out is the word 'Charon'. "I'll give you the pleasure of informing Charon yourself." She stands, and makes her way toward him.

"Talk to-"

"I have good news," she says warmly. "I'm your new employer." He looks at her, genuinely surprised.

"You are? That is good to know. Please, wait here. I have to take care of something," he says quietly. She nods. He makes his way over to Ahzrukhal. The other ghoul smirks.

"What's wrong, Charon? Come to say goodbye?" he asks, shaking the satchel of caps.

"Yes," Charon says, pulling his shotgun off of his back. Dogmeat begins barking wildly, and Sunshine gasps, hands flying to her mouth.

"Wai-" she begins, but Charon has already taken the shot. Half of Ahzrukhal's head hits the bar, and his body slumps to the floor. Charon eyes the body with distain, and shoots it again. He turns to her, sliding the shotgun back in it's holster.

"All right. Let's go," he says, making to walk past her. She grabs his arm.

"What the fuck was that?" she squeaks. His eyes lock on hers.

"Ahzrukhal was an evil bastard. So long as he held my contract, I was honor-bound to do as he commanded. But now you are my employer, which allowed me to free the world of that disgusting rat. And now, for good or ill, I serve you." She hands his contract out to him.

"I bought this to free you," she says in a small voice. A pained look comes over his face, and he gently closes her fingers around the slip of paper.

"It doesn't work like that, kid."


	6. To See The Stars

Chapter Six: To See The Stars

Listening to Carol intently with Dogmeat's head resting on her knee, she sneaks a glance at Charon. The ghoul keeps his eyes on the door, sneering at the uneasy looks the other patrons give him. Everyone heard about what happened to Ahzrukhal. Strangely, no one seemed to mourn the ghoul's death.

They seemed more worried about Charon, and what he would do next.

Carol ends her story in a quivering, raspy voice and it causes her chest to tighten. She can't even imagine living through the Great War, let alone being able to talk about it. Carol's sad gaze matches her own.

"See, and you said you weren't interesting," Sunshine teases, hoping to bring a smile to the woman's face. It works, and Carol chuckles.

"You try telling the same story for two hundred years, and see if it doesn't get boring," she answers. Sunshine returns the smile, and suddenly remembers what Willow told her.

"Oh, I know Gob. I was told to come see you," she says, and is rewarded by a warm grin.

"Oh, do you? He's my son. Well, not really, since ghouls don't work like that, but I love him like he's my own. How is he?" she asks, her eyes gleaming with excitement. Sunshine winces internally. Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut. Charon turns to look at her with an unreadable expression.

"He works in a bar," she says after a moment of deliberation. Carol lets out a happy squeak, and Greta rolls her eyes.

"Oh, I'm so proud of him! When you see him again, tell him his mother is very proud. I want to see him. But he should stay right where he is. It's too dangerous to come back," she says, shaking her head. Sunshine bites her lip, and changes the subject.

"Do you have any rooms available?" she asks.

"Just the one," Carol answers, and Sunshine looks back at Charon nervously. He doesn't say anything. "We can bring in an extra cot," she says kindly, resting her hand on Sunshine's arm. She lets out a relieved breath.

"Thank you," she says. She reaches for her satchel of caps to pay Carol, and tries to ignore the spattering of brain matter still clinging to it. She gives Carol the caps for the room, and asks Charon,

"What do you want for dinner?" He looks at her for a long, tense moment. "What?"

"I'll eat whatever you wish to provide," he says slowly.

"Yeah, but what if I pick something you don't like?" she asks, looking over her shoulder at him. "You have the right to eat what you want, Charon. You're not my slave." He jerks back ever so slightly, and his eyes widen just a fraction. Sunshine wouldn't have even noticed if she hadn't been paying attention.

"Salisbury steak," he says quietly. She smiles softly at him, and turns to Greta.

"A Salisbury steak, some Cram," she lists, absently patting Dogmeat's head. "Um. What do you want to drink, Charon?"

"What are you drinking?" he asks.

"Nuka Cola," she answers.

"Then that is fine."

"Ok. Two Nuka Colas, and um. Hmmm," she scratches her head. "Salisbury steak sounds pretty good. Another one of those, please." Greta nods and leaves to get their order. She makes faces at Dogmeat, and begins trying to teach him how to shake. He just licks her hands happily. A shadow falls over her, and she sees Charon standing over her. She never noticed how tall he is in comparison to everyone else around them.

"Thank you," he says, and his voice is so quiet it is like he hadn't spoken at all. She looks up at him with a smile.

"You're welcome. Do you want to sit next to us?" she asks, gesturing to the seat next to her and Dogmeat. "You don't have to sit so far away, you know." He nods and silently takes a seat next to her. Greta brings their meal, and Sunshine thanks her kindly. Charon looks down at his plate as though he can hardly believe it is sitting in front of him. Sunshine nudges the plate towards him.

"Go ahead. Eat up," she says, cracking open the can of Cram. Dogmeat yips happily, tail wagging furiously. Charon gives her an unreadable look before looks back down at his plate. He picks the steak up with his fingers, completely bypassing the silverware Greta set out. He slurps the gravy off his fingers. He's working on the last one when he looks at Sunshine. She's staring at him, and he fights back a wave of embarrassment about his lack of etiquette. But, to his surprise, she smiles and says,

"Good idea." She sets her silverware down, and picks up her steak, taking a vicious bite out of it. Gravy dribbles down her chin to land on the floor at her feet, much to the happiness of her dog.

Charon doesn't know how to respond.

* * *

"Are you _sure _you don't want the bed? That cot looks pretty small," Sunshine asks for the fourth time. They're in what passes as a hotel room in the wasteland, and appropriated bathroom stalls all that separates them from the rest of the patrons.

"The cot will be sufficient," he answers again.

"Are you _sure? _I mean, you're really tall, and that cot is really short. I think you'll hang off of the edge."

"I'll be fine. Plus, I think the bed has already been spoken for," he says, motioning to the bed where Dogmeat lays happily sprawled out. Sunshine turns and lets out a chagrined,

"_Dogmeat_!" Charon chuckles as she scolds him about having proper manners, and _I thought I taught you to have more class than that. _He rests his shotgun against the makeshift wall, and sits on the cot. It sags a little underneath his weight, and he swings his legs up on it. Sunshine is right, his feet do hang off a little at the end, but it isn't unbearably uncomfortable. Sunshine sighs, collapsing on the bed.

"How do you feel about leaving tomorrow?" she asks the ceiling.

"What about your leg?" Charon asks, pulling his shotgun over his lap. It's been ages since he last cleaned it because there wasn't much use for it while he had been Ahzrukhal's bodyguard. Slimy bastard hardly ever left his dirty hovel. The girl sits up and looks at him.

"How'd you know? Does word spread that fast here?" she asks.

"You've been favoring your other leg," he grunts. "Limping. You should probably keep off of it for a couple days." She smiles sadly.

"I don't have time," she says, lying back down again. "I've wasted too much time already."

"What's the rush?" he asks, popping his gun apart. After a tense hesitation that leaves Charon wondering if he spoke out of turn, she answers.

"I'm looking for my father. Three Dog knows where he is, but he needs me to do something for him. I have to get the Virgo II Lunar Lander satellite dish for his broadcast relay."

"Isn't that in the Museum of Technology?" he asks, looking down the sight of his gun. "Place is crawling with uglies."

"Yeah. That's why it's fortunate we happened upon one another. That is, if you really know how to use that gun of yours." His head snaps up to see her smiling. She's teasing him. It's been a while since he was playfully teased instead of bitterly mocked. He raises what is left of his eyebrow.

"That a challenge, smoothskin?" tumbles out of his mouth before he can think better of it.

"Maybe. I'm a pretty decent shot for someone who doesn't know how to handle a gun," she says with a laugh, and rolls over to go to sleep.

He hopes she's just kidding about that last part.

* * *

Turns out she's not. When they began their fight to the Museum of Technology, Charon had been impressed with how she was able to keep up with him despite her leg. However, when she started spraying 5.56 mm bullets everywhere in an attempt to hit something, he had been less than impressed. The dog had killed more muties than she had. He clears out the lobby of the museum, and checks around for other enemies. Sunshine reloads her rifle.

"That's the last clip," she says forlornly. He snorts, but doesn't say anything, instead opting to reload his shotgun. "What?"

"You may not wish to hear what I have to say," he says simply, depositing the empty clip in his back pocket to refill later.

"Charon, I'm not Ahzurkhal. You can speak freely around me," she offers.

"Very well. You wouldn't run out of ammo so fast if you didn't shoot it like it was going out of style. Also, your rifle is in shitty condition. Where did you get that thing? Did you pry it from the cold, dead hands of a super mutant?" Her face flushes pink, and he can see her ears turn red underneath her dirty blonde hair. A mumbled "Something like that" reaches his ears, and he chuckles. They make their way up the stairs, and she stops at a terminal. While she's fiddling around with the computer, he checks the next room for super mutants. He takes out the two loitering on the balcony over-looking the airplane exhibit. He looks back at Sunshine's face lit by the glow of the computer terminal and shakes his head.

The way is uneventful, with Charon doing what he does best and Sunshine stopping at every computer terminal along the way. They reach a demonstration of a Vault that has long been out of use. It starts up when they cross the threshold of the fake Vault door, and the recording sounds almost happy to have an audience again. The chipper voice sounding through the speakers contrasts darkly with the blood stains on the wall. Sunshine shivers and unconsciously moves closer to Charon. She nervously covers her Pip-Boy with her free hand, trying to hide as though it were her very own scarlet letter. Charon would have called it a bullseye.

Her breathing becomes easier when they're out of the fake Vault, and she increases her pace to escape the cheery voice promising safety and stability. They pass through a long and narrow hallway covered with decaying pictures of coming museum attractions that never saw the light of day. Charon glances around suspiciously. It has been too quiet since the last group of super mutants that attacked them had been dispatched. There had to be more of them wandering around, and it makes Charon nervous that he can't see them.

They walk into a wide open room and see a large projector in the middle. Sunshine walks over to it curiously and it powers up. She startles, but then looks up at the stars projected on the ceiling in awe.

"For as long as history has been recorded, man has had an insatiable desire for the stars," the recording booms. Thundering footsteps begin making their way toward them.

"Shit," Charon swears, raising his shotgun. He looks over at Sunshine, She hasn't heard the footsteps. She walks around and blissfully traces the outline of the stars and planets the fading projection flashes on the ceiling. She looks almost serene, and something tightens in Charon's chest, but he pushes that away as he sees the super mutants sneaking up on her. One points his gun at her and Charon ceases to think. His conditioning comes out as he slams into her, and she lands on her back with a startled gasp. Kneeling over her, he aims his shotgun and shoots the mutants attacking her-_them._ He looks down at her wide eyes and pale face. He can feel her erratic breathing as her chest bumps against his knees. He stands, and offers his hand. She shakily takes it and he pulls her to her feet.

"Thank you," she says over the ringing in her ears. He nods, and they don't say anything else to each other until they find the satellite dish. She kneels down and begins unscrewing it from the Virgo II Lunar Lander, and Charon keeps a watchful eye on their surroundings. She carefully pulls the dish off, but the Lunar Lander falls over anyway with a loud clang. Charon jumps, glaring at her.

"Sorry," she says sheepishly as jumbled cries of "TIME TO DIE" echo past their ears.

* * *

"I don't know how you made it all the way to D.C alive, kid," Charon says, lighting a cigarette. Sunshine had insisted he help her tie the dish to her back, declaring "it's not that heavy." She is working hard to quiet her grunts of exertion, and it amuses Charon to no end to see her struggle to seem stronger than she actually is.

It's kind of endearing.

"Just lucky, I guess," she says, craning her neck to look at the Washington Monument. "Kind of falling apart, isn't it?" Charon snorts, blowing smoke out of the corner of his mouth.

"Isn't everything?" They walk up to the terminals outside the monument's barricade, and Sunshine types in the password Three Dog gave her. The Brotherhood patrols sneer at him, and one points his laser rifle at him.

"Get out of here, zombie," he says. Charon growls, but Sunshine steps in front of him.

"He's with me," she says quietly. The patrol scoffs, but lowers his laser rifle. She motions for Charon to follow her, and they enter the Washington Monument. She opens the elevator, and tests the ground of it with her foot. They step in, and she nervously looks around at the holes in the elevator as it takes them all the way to the top of the monument. It jerks slightly, and she grabs him out of impulse, shutting her eyes tightly. The elevator lurches to a stop, and the doors creak out. She opens her eyes, and jumps back away from him with a slight cough. He chuckles, rolling his eyes as they exit.

He helps her untie the broadcast relay from her back. She bites her lip as she sets it down, looking out to the damaged one hanging over the D.C ruins.

"That's pretty far out on the rafters," she murmurs, tilting her head. Charon looks down at the rope in his hand that they used to secure the broadcast relay to her back. He begins tying it around her waist and arms. She lets out a startled yelp.

"It's a harness," he explains, tugging lightly on the end of it. "I won't let you fall, smoothskin."

"Thank you," she says, nodding. She turns toward the rafters and slowly climbs on one. She scoots over to damaged relay and leans her head down. Wind blows slightly, but it's just enough to cause the rafter she's sitting on to totter. Blood rushes to her head as she catches a glimpse of the ground. She gulps, and looks back over her shoulder at Charon. He smiles, hoping to reassure her. His smile looks more like a grimace. She smiles back anyway. She turns back to the relay and begins unscrewing it from the rafter. If she focuses on that, she can ignore the fact she's hanging almost a mile above the ground with nothing but a rope held by a grumpy ghoul to steady her. When she removes the relay, she holds onto it and scoots slowly back to Charon. He wordlessly takes it from her and hands her the new one. With some difficult maneuvering, she makes it back over and begins installing the relay. A gust of strong wind blows and she yelps, hanging onto the rafter.

"Don't worry, kid. I've got you," Charon calls. She nods, and takes a deep breath to steady herself. She continues to work on the relay, and adjusts it once it is set to the rafter. She gives Charon a thumbs-up, and makes her way back to the top floor of the monument. She swings her leg over the ledge, and tries to brace her foot against the wall. It slips, and she bites back scream. Charon is at the ledge in an instant, the rope wrapped around his wrist. He grabs her by the arms, and pulls her over the ledge.

"Thank you. Again," she says against his chest.

"That's some kind of luck you have, kid."


	7. Wherever the Road May Lead

Chapter Seven: Wherever the Road May Lead

"Hey, all right! The Hero of the Wasteland returns!" Three Dog exclaims. Sunshine smiles despite herself.

"Oh, you big flatterer," she says, waving a hand dismissively. "I was happy to help fight the Good Fight."

"Now GNR can be heard clear across the Capital Wasteland again. That'll give Eden and those muties something to think about," he declares, slapping his fist into his palm. "But before I get back to my calling, I bet you want to hear about your dad." She nods, trying to slow the beating of her heart.

"I miss him very much," she says quietly. Charon shoots her a questioning look, but she smiles at him.

"When your dad passed through here, he and I talked for a good, long time. He's a real stand-up kind of guy. He mentioned some scientific mumbo-jumbo that didn't really make sense to me, and mentioned something called 'Project Purity.' He also said something about going to visit a Doctor Li in Rivet City, and then he left in a hurry."

"Where is Rivet City?" she asks.

"I know a way through Anacostia Metro Station. We can enter it underneath the Museum of History," Charon says. Sunshine pales, but nods.

"Then Rivet City is where I'm headed," she says. "Thank you, Three Dog. Take care of yourself."

"Goodbye. Remember to keep us tuned in while you're out there, and watch yourself," he says warmly, patting her on the shoulder. She turns and heads for the exit, Charon and Dogmeat following close behind.

"So, the way is through a metro?" she asks unhappily. He nods.

"Yes. But I think we should stop at Underworld and resupply. I also think it would be a good idea to get your equipment repaired. It's a long trip," he says, eyeing her tattered clothing and weathered weapons. She blushes before self-consciously stroking the broken pistol on her hip.

"I didn't even think of getting these repaired. I guess I've just been too focused on finding Dad," she says sheepishly. They make their way to Underworld, and Sunshine waves to Willow as they walk inside the museum. Charon sees the other ghoul shake her head before waving back with a tiny smile creasing her face.

"Where will we get supplies?" she asks. "You know your way around Underworld better than I do."

"Tulip sells various supplies. She's, well. She's a bit strange, but I think you'll like her," Charon says, and after a moment's deliberation he adds, "I know this guy, Quinn. He's pretty decent with repairs. I can get them done dirt cheap." He shifts uncomfortably and she looks at him questioningly.

"What's wrong, Charon?" she asks, tilting her head. He lets out a deep breath, and says quietly,

"Do you have anything else to wear? I'm going to need to take your armor to him."

"What? I don't see how this is a-oh. Oh, okay. Um," she bounces lightly from foot to foot. "Yes. Yes I do. I'll go get changed." She walks to bathroom, and sees a couple of mattresses pushed up against the wall. She finds the one still intact stall in the room, and latches the door behind her. She peels the faded and worn leather of her armor from her skin, wincing at how ragged it is. It's a wonder it protected her at all up until now. She rummages through her pack until she feels the familiar material of her vault jumpsuit beneath her fingers. She pulls it out, and holds it in front of her. She hasn't worn it since she found better armor, and a sharp pain stabs through her chest. It's in the condition it was when she had fled the vault, and it had been the only piece of clothing on her back. The yellow 101 is starting to peel away, and seeing the numbers makes her lonely for home. Shaking her head, she pushes those thoughts out of her mind and slips the jumpsuit on. It fits a little more loosely than it used to, but she finds it just as comfortable.

Exiting the bathroom, she finds Charon and Dogmeat waiting for her outside of room. She sees a ghoul behind a counter with various wares surrounding her.

"This is Tulip's," Charon says as she hands him her damaged equipment. "She should have whatever we need."

"What do you think we should get?" she asks, looking inside eagerly. She can't believe she missed the shop the first time she was here.

"Food, water, ammo. The basics. There's no telling how long Quinn will take with these repairs. We might have to book a room at Carol's," he hints. He hopes he doesn't notice that he's trying to get her to stay off of her leg for a few more hours. The stimpaks Doc Barrow gave her healed the wound shut, but her muscles still haven't fully recovered quite yet. He likes his new employer, and would prefer to keep her alive as long as possible. She pauses to consider the idea, and her brow furrows.

"Well, if it's going to take that long," she says. "Then sure. Why not?" He nods, and leaves to go find Quinn, leaving Sunshine alone outside of the shop. She tentatively walks in, and the ghoul cleaning the counter looks up.

"Oh, a visitor!" she says excitedly, running her hands through her ruined hair. "Well, hello! Hello, and welcome to Underworld Outfitters. It's-It's been so long since I've had a customer! I'm Tulip!" She beams at the flustered ghoul, and answers,

"I'm Sunshine! Pleased to meet you!" The ghoul seems at a loss for words, so she tries to make conversation. "So, could you tell me about Underworld? I'm fairly new."

"Well, sure! There's lots of old pamphlets and stuff. I've, I've pretty much read them all," she says, embarrassed. It used to be part of the Museum of History. The exhibit that used to be here focused on what happened after death; hell, and what not. A lot of it was based on this old world book called Paradise Lost. It's about a guy who goes to hell. Pretty interesting stuff."

"Sounds like it!" Sunshine says eagerly.

"Really? Would you like a copy?" Tulip asks shyly. "We have a whole box full, and no one ever reads them."

"I would love a copy," she says, and Tulips rummages around before finding it. When she hands it to Sunshine, the vault-dweller's hands begin to tremble. She'd always taken books for granted back in the vault, and out here they were nowhere to be found. She bites back a small sob, her hands rubbing the spine of the book reverently. She brings it up to her face and deeply breathes in the scent of it.

"Thank you," she breathes, and Tulips gives her a small smile. Her eyes wander to stare behind her, and she says,

"Oh, hello." A quiet cough causes Sunshine to turn around. Charon is standing there with another ghoul, whose arms are full holding her broken armor. She smiles, and holds out the book.

"Look, Charon," she says. He gives her a small smile despite himself, and asks,

"Did you get any supplies?"

"Oh," she says, blushing. "No. I'll get on that." She turns back to Tulip, and Charon shakes his head. The other ghoul, the one holding her armor, says to Charon,

"I'll get this fixed up in no time."

"Thanks, Quinn." Quinn takes everything to the workbench in the corner of Tulip's store. Charon waits patiently as Sunshine gathers up enough food, water and ammo for the two of them. Dogmeat sits at her feet, wagging his tail as Tulip reaches down to pet him every now and then.

They exit Tulip's shop and make their way to Carol's Place. Sunshine hands him her new book.

"Make sure nothing happens to it?" she asks. He takes it from her gently.

"I'll protect it as I would protect you," he promises. She grins, and adjusts the purchases in her arms to keep them from overflowing. He opens the door to Carol's Place for her.

"You are a gentleman and a scholar, good sir," she teases.

"You flattering me, smoothskin?"

"You know what they say. Flattery will get you everywhere," she sings. Carol watches the two of them with an amused expression. "Carol, do you still have a room open?"

"And a cot too, sweetie," she says. Once they reach their room, she sets the purchases down gently on the floor and plops down on the cot before Charon can say anything. She laughs at the look on his face, and Dogmeat tries to get up on the cot with her. She hugs him to her chest, pulling him up to lay against her. He licks her face happily, and she laughs again.

_It should be a crime to be this happy out here, _he thinks.

"I'm not tired yet," Sunshine says. She hops off of the cot, only wincing slightly. "I'm going to go look around. Don't steal my cot."

"Yes, ma'am," he says, giving her a mock salute. He stands to follow her, and she grins. "We should probably get your leg checked by Doc Barrows." She pouts.

"Am I going to have to get a shot?"

"Only if you don't quit complaining," he says, and is rewarded with a grin. She sticks her tongue out, and says,

"You're not the boss of me."

"You know, you almost make a convincing adult, kid." She makes a face, and playfully shoves his arm.

"I'm nineteen. Jerk," she says. He rolls his eyes.

"You're so old."

"You're just jealous because I'm aging well," she says, and he is surprised to find himself laughing.

"You're a cheeky brat," he says, ruffling her hair. "But I like you, kid." She grins, and doesn't even notice when they enter the Chop Shop. Doc Barrows looks up.

"Back again, smoothskin?" he asks, lowering his medical clipboard. She nods, and points her thumb at Charon.

"He says I have to get my leg checked out before we go to Rivet City," she says. He motions for her to sit down so she does, rolling up the leg of her vault suit. Charon dutifully looks away. Doc Barrows inspects it, making disgruntled 'humph'-ing noises.

"Are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Planning on it," she says.

"You really should wait at least another day. All that walking around you did for Three Dog didn't help any," he says. She shakes her head.

"My equipment is going to be fixed tomorrow, and as soon as I have it, we're going. I have to find my father. He went to go talk to a Doctor Li in Rivet City," she says. Doc Barrows shakes his head.

"Well, I can't change your mind. As long as you're going to Rivet City anyway, you can take this holotape to Doctor Preston," he says. Sunshine answers with a chipper "No sweat!", and he hands her the holotape. "Rest up as much as you can, smoothskin." She nods, and they leave the Chop Shop. She yawns, throwing her arms over her head to stretch, and Charon averts his eyes as her vault suit grows taut.

"So what now?" she asks. He shrugs, and follows her back to Carol's Place. She races him, Dogmeat yipping happily at her heels, and he chuckles, following close behind. When they reach their rented room, he says,

"Thought Doc told you to rest up." She waves her hand dismissively.

"Pffffft, I'm fine. Good as new," she says, opening the stall door and collapsing on the cot. "Do you still have my book? I'd like to read before I turn in for the night."

"Right here," he says, handing it to her. He watches as she reads in contented silence, and rescues the book from slipping out of her grasp when she falls asleep.

* * *

They've been standing outside of the Museum of History for ten minutes. Sunshine looks down the steps that lead to the metro with her hands on her hips, as if challenging the chain-link fence to a brawl. She worries her bottom lip, and Charon gently nudges her forward.

"We can't teleport there, kid," he says.

"I know. Just," she trails off, trying to stare down the gate to the metro again. She shakes her head, as if steeling herself. "You're right. Let's go." She marches down the steps with a purpose in her step, but she dutifully waits for Charon and Dogmeat to catch up to her before walking in.

This metro doesn't smell any better than the other ones she's been through, and it's twice as dark. She moves to turn on her Pip-Boy light, but Charon's hand closes over hers to still it.

"Don't do that," he warns. "Any ferals in here will be attracted to that thing like bloatflies to a flame." She pushes down the panic at his suggestion.

"But I can't see," she says in a tiny voice. He squeezes her hand before letting go of it.

"Just follow my footsteps. I won't let anything happen to you, kid. Promise," he says gruffly. She nods, and swallows. Her hand finds the back of his armor, and she holds on. Not being able to see allows her to hear better, but that isn't as good of a thing as she thought it would be. She can hear the rats running around and squeaking, and the irradiated water dripping from the ceiling. Dogmeat growls at her heels, and Charon's back is tense underneath her hand.

He's as proficient with his shotgun as he promised he was. The ferals don't attack him, but when they smell her they come running. She whimpers, and aims her gun in the direction she can hear them coming from. She's sure she didn't hit any, but Charon kills them before they have a chance to touch her. She wishes she could turn on her Pip-Boy light, or her radio to drown out the cries the ferals make when they catch her scent.

She has no idea how long they've been walking, just that her feet hurt and her shoulders sag from exhaustion. She tries not to lean against Charon and go to sleep, but his back is warm against her forehead. She keeps her feet moving out of sheer force of will. Everything around her becomes a blur. Charon hasn't pulled out his shotgun in a while. _It should be safe to rest,_ she thinks.

She only vaguely remembers when Charon lifts her up into his arms like a child, and hearing his gravelly voice say,

"Sorry, kid. Forgot you smoothskins don't have very much stamina."

"Where are we?" she asks sleepily.

"Maintenance room. There's an old mattress here you can sleep on."

"Can I turn on my radio?" she asks, like a child asking for a new toy. "I wanna hear Galaxy News." After a pause, he answers,

"Sure. Just keep it quiet." He gently sets her down on the mattress, and she fiddles with her Pip-Boy. The Adventures of Herbert Daring Dashwood begins to tinkle out softly from the speakers, but she falls asleep before the show really starts. Dogmeat curls up at the foot of her bed, and Charon takes a seat slouching against the wall, shotgun resting across his lap and eyes on the door.

Sunshine fidgets in her sleep, and he bites back a smile. _Ridiculous kid._

* * *

They make it to Rivet City the next day, and Sunshine cranes her neck to look up at the boat.

"People _live _in that thing?" she asks in awe, eyeing the broken bow.

"Sure do. It's one of the safest places in the wastes," he says, waving to Lucky Harith, who is milling around the bottom of the scaffolding that leads to the entrance of the city. He stops to trade some of the salvage he and Sunshine had found while she and Dogmeat run off ahead.

"I see you've met the little lady," Harith says, a twinkle in his eye as he watches her play with Dogmeat on the way up the scaffolding.

"She's my new employer," he explains. Harith whistles lowly and says,

"Good thing too. I met her right after she left that vault of hers. Poor thing had no idea where the hell she was, or how the world worked. Caught her trying to offer a raider some water," he says, shaking her head. "All she had on her was a 10mm that might as well been paperweight for all the good it did her. Had absolutely no idea how to shoot. She get any better at that?"

"'Fraid not," he answers, keeping an eye on how close she and the dog stray to the edge. Harith chuckles, and they finish their dealings before parting ways. Charon reaches the top of the scaffolding, and tries not to worry when he can't see her.

"Kid?" he calls, and hears the answering bark of Dogmeat. He looks over to see her crouching by Carlos, Rivet City's resident water beggar, and rummaging through her pack. He counts five purified waters surrounding the man's feet. He walks up, and gently pulls Sunshine up.

"Save some for yourself, kid," he says, and she smiles brightly.

"I'm not hurting any. I have a robot at home that can make it!"

"Regardless," he says, and pulls her away toward the city, leaving Carlos' cries of how she saved his life behind. She looks across the way, and turns slightly pale when she sees the drop to the Potomac river.

"How do we get across?" she asks. He points to the intercom, and she presses the button. "Hi. I'd like to get into the city, please."

"Lowering the bridge," a voice crackles in response, and the scaffolding begins to shake. Sunshine yelps, and losing her balance, falls down. She watches as the bridge swings out to connect the boat to the scaffolding. Charon holds out his hand for her to take, and pulls her up. They walk across the bridge, and she stays close to them. A scowling security guard stops them at the door.

"Hold it right there," he says, and Charon eyes the plasma rifle he aims at them. "State your business in Rivet City."

"I'm looking for my father," she answers.

"Oh yeah? Who is your father? If he lives on this boat, I might know him."

"He's lived in a vault his whole life. I'm not sure if you'd know him," she says. The man scoffs.

"Oh yeah? And I'm a fairy princess. You keep up this smart-ass attitude, and you're going to be floating face down in the river," the man threatens. Charon bristles.

"Hey," he says, and the man turns his rifle on him.

"What?" the guard demands.

"Don't talk to her that way."

"And who are you to stop me?"

"Oh, Christ," she says, exasperated. "Sir. My father came here to see Doctor Li. I want to talk to her. Please let us in to Rivet City. We won't cause any trouble," she says, nudging Charon. "Pinky swear." He eyes her for a long, hard moment before lowering his gun.

"Sorry," he says gruffly. "We've had all sorts of trouble around here lately."

"No problem, Officer…?" she says easily.

"Harkness. Doctor Li is in the science lab near the back of the ship," he says. She nods, thanking him before moving to go inside. Harkness and Charon share a hard look before the ghoul follows his employer into the boat. She grabs his arm, and he thinks she is going to reprimand him. She smiles shyly, and he can see a hint of a blush creeping across her cheeks.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," she says, and his heart constricts in a way he will never cease to try to forget.

* * *

Wow. Charon is a reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaal chatty Cathy in this, isn't he? So, let me know how I'm doing. :D


	8. Paranoid Android

Chapter Eight: Paranoid Android

The duo make their way through Rivet City marketplace, and Sunshine 'oohs' and 'ahhs' at everything on display. They stop by Potomac Attire, and she touches one of the torn dresses hanging from the display. She rubs the material in her hands, and pulls it out of hold it up against her. She smiles, swaying back and forth in order to watch the fabric of the dress twirl before putting it back. They move on, and stop at Gary's Galley.

"I'm starving," she declares, plopping down on one of the stools, and patting the seat beside her. Charon wordlessly sits down, and watches as she motions Gary, the proprietor, over to them.

"Hello, sir!" she greets, He grins.

"Well, hello! What can I get you?" She tilts her head.

"I don't know. Charon?" she prompts. He shrugs, and she asks, "What's good to eat?"

"Mirelurk cakes. They're my specialty," Gary says proudly. She nods, and orders some. Gary goes to cook them, and she fiddles with her Pip-Boy. She pops in the holotape that Doc Barrows gave her, and meets Charon's raised eyebrow with a mischievous grin.

"Just wanna see if it works," she says innocently.

"Nosy," he tsks, a smile on his face.

"I wanna see if it's one of those android holotapes," she says excitedly. "Moira gave me one, and they're really interesting."

"It's just a hoax, kid," he says, trying not to become infected by her enthusiasm. He sees a woman who is heading toward the living quarters of the ship freeze, and level a glare at Sunshine's back. He bares his teeth in a scowl at her, but Sunshine continues to talk, oblivious to this new found tension. She slips in the holotape, and listens intently. The woman's face morph's into an expression of pure panic when the holotape begins to play.

"_If you're listening to this recording, it is because you're believed to be trustworthy. I hope that is the case, because this recording puts us both in danger. I'm escaping from the Commonwealth. I'm an android, a replicated man. A slave…_" Sunshine's face furrows in sympathy. She turns to Charon, who hasn't moved his eyes from the woman staring at Sunshine.

"Charon, we have to help him," she says, and he nods. The woman shoots the girl an odd look, but turns and walks off. He breathes a little easier, and even manages a smile when Sunshine feeds tiny pieces of her meal to Dogmeat when she thinks he isn't looking.

But he is mindful of their surroundings. Always mindful.

After they eat, Sunshine heads straight to the Science Lab. She gets turned around every so often, but follows the signs to her destination. Charon and Dogmeat follow faithfully behind, and they're so quiet she can almost forget they're there. The ship is cramped and noisy, but she is happy for the signs of people that litter the halls. Children bump into them while racing past them, and she smiles when she hears their laughter.

She steels herself when she reaches the door to the Science Lab, and takes in a deep breath before pushing it open. She runs to the railing, and scans the room below them. Charon notices how her shoulders sag after a moment, before she shakes herself and they continue on. A lab assistant is arguing with a short, angry looking man about something that doesn't quite reach Sunshine's ears. When they reach the bottom of the stairs, she stops one of the women in a white lab coat.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Doctor Li," she says. The woman scoffs.

"She's over there," she says, motioning to an angry looking brunette woman. "Good luck getting her to talk to you. She's in a mood." Sunshine nods, and moves toward Doctor Li.

"Excuse me, Doctor Li?" she asks. The woman sighs loudly, and turns to face her.

"Look, I told you people that this is a _restricted area. _I'm tired of-" her voice trails off as she gets a good look at Sunshine. "It's-it's you. My God, you look just like him." Her hand reaches up to touch her face before she regains her composure and her hand drops to her side. "You're James' daughter, aren't you? What are you doing here?"

"How-how do you know me?" Sunshine asks, taken aback.

"You were too young to remember, and I suppose James never spoke of me. Typical," she says, rolling her eyes. "I am Doctor Madison Li. I worked with your parents years ago. Now I run the Science Lab here at Rivet City. Our work was all I had left," she says bitterly.

"I'm looking for my father," Sunshine says uneasily.

"You mean you haven't seen him? Huh. I thought he sent you," she says, looking her up and down. "As a matter of fact, aren't you supposed to be in a Vault somewhere?"

"I left."

"Huh. Funny. I was under the impression that was the exact opposite of what he wanted for you. Well, he shouldn't have expected you to have done what he wanted. You are his child, after all." She shakes her head. "You won't find him here. He's come and gone already."

"Where?"

"The old Jefferson Memorial. It's across the way from Rivet City. You shouldn't go by yourself," she says, eyeing Charon. "It's dangerous. I told James not to go."

"Why is he there?" Sunshine asks. Li sighs.

"He has this crazy idea that he can get Project Purity to work." Sunshine tilts her head.

"Project Purity?" Li nods, clearly upset by having to talk about it.

"The plan was to build a facility that could purify all of the water in the Tidal Basin at once. No radiation, no muck. Just clean water. "

"But it didn't work."

"No," Li answers, her eyes hard.

"What happened?"

"You did," she snaps, and Sunshine winces. Li sighs again, running a hand through messy hair. "Sorry. That's not fair. It was more than you. We were already having problems getting it to work, and the Brotherhood of Steel threatened to withdraw their protection if we couldn't produce results. When your mother died giving birth to you, it was the straw that broke the brahim's back. Your father," she pauses, closing her eyes. "After your mother died, I think he gave up. He wanted to keep you safe, but he was running more than anything."

"What was he like?" Sunshine whispers, her throat dry.

"Driven. Very driven. I guess we all were. He was focused on two things; making Project Purity work, and your mother. He-" she stops. "He was very focused on making the world a better place." Sunshine nods, a lump in her throat.

"Thank you," she says quietly. She nods to Charon, and motions for him to follow her.

They turn and walk out of the science lab. She sniffles a little once the door shuts, and wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand. Charon ruffles her hair out of impulse, not realizing his action until the short, dirty blonde strands get tangled around his knuckles. Watery eyes peek at him from over her fingers, and the corners of her eyes crinkle as she smiles.

"Sorry, kid," he says, coughing to clear his throat. His hand leaves her hair, and she subconsciously leans to follow it.

"We know where to go now," she says after a moment, gaining her composure. She shakes her head softly, trying to clear it. "We'll leave right away, if that's ok with you."

"That's fine," he says. The door swings open behind them, and the man Li's assistant was arguing with earlier is followed by his vacant-eyed bodyguard. Charon stiffens as he grabs Sunshine's arm, his fingers clenching and unclenching.

"You!" he says. "Are you some kind of lab assistant?" She shakes her head, and he smiles. "No, I didn't expect you would be. You look a bit more," he pauses, as if searching for the least offensive word he could think of. "Weathered." Dogmeat growls, his fur standing up, and Sunshine pets his head to soothe him.

"Can I help you with something?" she asks.

"Indeed, you can! I've misplaced some sensitive property," he says. She shoots an uneasy look a Charon.

"What kind of property?" she asks unsurely.

"Why, an android," he answers easily. "Do you know what an android is? I suppose you don't." The words of the holotape play back in her head.

_I'm an android._

_A replicated man._

_A slave._

"No," she says, interrupting his explanation of what an android is and what it does. "I won't help you. I don't do work for slavers." Zimmer's eyes flash behind his spectacles, and he seems taken aback.

"You've heard one of those cursed holotapes of his, haven't you?" he demands, his hands grabbing her shoulders. "Where did you find it?" She shakes her head, struggling to get away from him. His face contorts in an awful expression of rage. "_Tell me!" _Charon pulls his shot gun off of his back and aims it at Zimmer, ignoring the pistol the man's bodyguard aims at him.

"Let go of her," he orders quietly, cocking his gun.

"You better put that down," the bodyguard growls.

"I can take a shot better than either one of you," Charon replies. "Let her go. _Now," _he emphasizes by nudging Zimmer's head with his shotgun. Zimmer lets go off her, backing away from her slowly. He straightens his suit, and gulps.

"Very well. Come, Armitage. We'll just find someone else," he says. Armitage puts down his pistol, and answers with a monotonous, "Yes, sir" before turning to follow him. Charon doesn't lower his gun until they are out of sight. He turns to check on Sunshine but is surprised when she throws herself at him. She clings to him, trying to stop shaking, and he awkwardly pats her back.

"It's ok, kid. I wasn't going to let anything happen to you," he says. She nods against his chest, and he sighs, shifting uncomfortably. She is warm against him, her smaller figure molding almost perfectly against his own. He clears his throat, and she looks up at him. He almost doesn't say anything in the face of her gaze.

"We'd better get going," he says. She nods, pulling away from him, and he is almost saddened by the loss of contact.

"Yeah. Let's go," she says, wiping at her eyes again. She tries to keep her body from shaking, and he pretends not to notice. He nods, and follows her in silence. They enter the marketplace, and the woman from before moves in front of them. Charon growls in the back of his throat.

"Relax," she says, hey hands held up in a gesture of peace. "I'm not going to man-handle your friend." At Sunshine, she says, "I saw what happened. You didn't tell him anything. Why?"

"Why would I?" she answers back, warily moving closer to Charon.

"Because's he's just an android," the woman says, testing her. "Just a machine."

"If he made those holotapes, then he has consciousness. He has a soul," Sunshine says. "I don't believe in slavery, and I won't help anyone who practices such an abomination." The woman's lips curl up into a slight smile.

"Welcome to The Railroad," she says, holding out a round, black object with wires sticking out of it. "I'm Victoria Watts."

"Sunshine Maddox," she says, gingerly taking the object. She examines it closely. "What is this? Did it come from a Vault?"

"No. It's a component from the android. Give it to Zimmer, and tell him the android is dead. He should head back to the Commonwealth if he thinks there isn't anything left for him."

"Who is the android?" Sunshine asks, and Victoria gives her a disapproving look.

"Does it matter? He's safer if you don't know."

"I don't think Zimmer will leave," Sunshine says. "Not after the way I saw him act. The android needs to know what he is up against." Victoria shakes her head.

"He's trying to lead a normal life. He," she looks around before leaning to whisper in Sunshine's ear. "He thinks he is human. Imagine what will happen if you prove that wrong to him." Sunshine nods, and she and Charon watch Victoria leave.

"What're you going to do, kid?" Charon asks after the woman is gone. Sunshine absently tosses the android component up and down.

"Looks like we're going to be delayed again," she breathes a puff of air lifting her hair out of her face. "We'll give this to Zimmer, and then we'll find the android and warn him." Charon nods.

"I'll follow your lead." She takes off walking, doubling back to toward staircase. A solid mass bumps into her shoulder, and a soft, fearful whimper reaches her ears. She turns to see a pale, gaunt looking woman taking a step back from her and Charon.

"Ma'am?" she asks, reaching for her. "Are you all right?"

"Stay away from me!" she says fearfully. "Are you one of them? Get away!"

"Ma'am, we won't hurt you," she says, shooting a worried look at Charon. He puts his hands up to ease the woman's terror. He steps away from her for good measure.

"What are you so afraid of?" he says, trying to ease the gruffness out of his voice. She looks between the two of them before tentatively answering.

"I used to be a slave," she says, and Sunshine's lips purse. "I saw a slaver on this ship. His name is Sister. I," she stutters, swallowing past the lump in her throat. "I think he's after me." Sunshine gently pats her shoulder, and the woman winces.

"Your secret is safe with us miss-?"

"Wong."

"Miss Wong. Do you have a way to protect yourself?" She shakes her head. She motions Charon over. She reaches into her satchel and pulls out some caps. "Here, my friend Charon will stay with you until you can arm yourself." She looks at Charon. "Keep her safe, all right?"

"What about you?" he asks quietly.

"I'm just going to go to the clinic to talk to Doctor Preston. I'll be right back." Charon fights the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"I don't think that is a good idea. This place is not safe," he says.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to deliver a holotape. Promise," she says, holding out her pinky. He reluctantly takes it, and watches her retreating form with a feeling of dread.


	9. Chasing Electric Sheep

Chapter Nine: Chasing Electric Sheep

Doctor Preston listens to the holotape, his lips pursed.

"Got any leads, Doc?" Sunshine asks. He shakes his head, handing the holotape back to her. "

"'Fraid not," he answers. "However, I have an android holotape of my own." He turns his back to her to rummage through his desk. "Let's see. Hmm. Here!" He pulls another holotape out of the drawer, this one more worn looking than the others. He hands it to her. "I haven't listened to it yet. Honestly, I think it's all an elaborate hoax." She nods, and pops it into her Pip-Boy.

"_Despite the harshness of the Wasteland, I've discovered in more than a few here, a compassion that is unheard of in the Commonwealth. Perhaps it's the daily struggle for life here which gives appreciation for life in general, whether human, or android. In a few days I'll be a free man... a new man. Let me say thank you now, for referring me to Pinkerton at Rivet City, because I will not remember any of this soon._" The voice coming from her speakers sounds vaguely familiar, but Sunshine can't place it for some reason. Maybe it's because she's been playing the android's recordings in her head for the past few hours now.

"Pinkerton?" she asks, and Preston chuckles.

"There's a name I haven't heard in a while! That name takes me way back. Claimed to have cured radiation poisoning. Or was it food poisoning? I don't recall. He was always telling folks that he founded Rivet City. All he did was break off the front of it. He's practically a legend, Rivet City's own resident ghost. Maybe he died," Preston says thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "I'm afraid I don't recall." Sunshine nods, popping the holotape out.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more help," he says. She smiles brightly at him.

"You helped plenty," she says, thanking him and walking out. Once she's outside of the clinic, she makes a face. Now instead of androids, she is chasing ghosts. She sighs, running a hand through her hair. She looks at her Pip-Boy clock. She'd better make her way back to Charon.

She enters the staircase and makes her way down back to the marketplace. The meeting with Preston took longer than she expected. Charon is probably worrying groves into the butt of his shotgun by now. She shakes her head, hoping that they were able to find Miss Wong a decent firearm. She'd hate for her to be caught unawares, and captured into slavery again.

The hair on the back of her neck stands up as she hears light footsteps behind her. She freezes, and hears someone's breath catch behind her. She turns to see a greasy, unkempt looking man scowling at her. She eyes the pistol on his hip and asks,

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah," he growls. "The android. What did you find out about him?"

"Nothing," she lies smoothly. "I'm thinking it's all a hoax."

"Bullshit. Zimmer told me what you said," he snaps.

"Oh. So you're that 'someone else' he had in mind," she says, fighting to keep the unease out of her voice. The stairwell suddenly feels cramped, and there isn't enough air to breathe. She takes a step back and he follows her, closing the distance between them.

"Tell me what you know," he says, nudging her sternum with the barrel of his pistol. _Shit, when did he pull that out? _ "And maybe I won't hurt you. Zimmer is paying me for this, and I'm planning on throwing a party when I get back to Paradise Falls." Her back hits the solid steel of the ship's walls, and she levels a glare at him. He gives her a bone-chilling, lopsided grin. "What's a matter? You not like the sound of that? If you want, I can slap a collar on you and you can come too." He traces the barrel of the gun down the side of her face. "Hell, I'd probably get more for you than that Mei Wong bitch I was sent here to get." He lowers his gun to lean forward and inspect her closely, and that's when she strikes. Her fist strikes him in the sternum, and she knees him in the crotch. He grunts, doubling over in pain, and she wrestles away from him. He aims his pistol at her, firing off a shot. The bullet lodges in the wall next to her head. He smiles crookedly, and aims the gun at her head.

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice demands roughly. They both look up to see Harkness standing at the top of the flight of stairs with his arms crossed. He runs down with his plasma rifle drawn, pulling Sunshine behind him. He aims his gun at the man, who raises his arms in surrender.

"He's a slaver," Sunshine says. The man shoots her a condescending smirk.

"Tattle-tale," he says. Looking at Harkness, he says, "Yeah, so what? What're you gonna do about it?"

"What I do with all of the trash-take it out," Harkness growls, and Sunshine stifles a laugh. It's a one-liner straight out of the old spy movies she used to watch with her father in the Vault. They would sneak into the entertainment room and filch the good holotapes for themselves to watch. Her father's favorites were the ones about a Pre-war spy who shared his name. The man scoffs, and Harkness shakes his head, muttering about how he should have expected this from a man named 'Sister'. Harkness reaches to grab him by the arm, and Sister reaches for the knife strapped to this shoulder.

"Hey!" she says, and he is distracted for a spilt second. That's all she needs. "Give this to Zimmer!"

Sunshine takes the android component and pretends it is a baseball, and the catcher's glove is Sister's face. It hits him with a solid crack, and he crumples, blood spurting from his now-broken nose. Harkness shoots her an incredulous look, and she says sheepishly,

"Home run?"

* * *

She helps Harkness push a now awake (and now swearing) Sister over the guard rail into the Potomac. He lands with a loud splash, and Harkness lights a cigarette as the watch the slaver struggle to make it to shore.

"Asshole. Hope the mirelurks get 'im," Harkness says, taking a deep drag. His eyes cut over to Sunshine. "You want one?" She shakes her head, and thanks him for the offer. "So, why did he attack you anyway?" She hesitates, not sure how much she should tell him. After all, androids are pretty hard to believe in the first place. She touches the pocket the holotape she stole from Sister is in before pushing him overboard, and decides on a half-truth.

"I was helping the woman he was sent for," she answers. "I gave her enough caps to buy a gun to protect herself." Harkness gives her another strange look.

"That was damned kind of you," he says, eyeing her closely. "What's your agenda?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been hearing nothing but good things about you since you got here. Carlos keeps going on about the water you gave him. Gary is ecstatic about how you reacted to his Mirelurk cakes. Word is that Doctor Li calmed down and stopped being such a bitch to her scientists after you left." Her brow furrows, and she thinks to herself that Li's change in disposition may have been due more to the thought of her father than her. "And now you tell me you gave an ex-slave enough caps to buy a gun. What are you up to?"

"Is it really so bad that you're hearing good things about me?"

"No one does that much good without an angle," he says.

"I like helping people. It's the right thing to do," she answers. He shakes his head.

"So, play me that holotape you filched from Sister," he says, and she winces . _There goes being discrete. _He shoots her a look, and asks,

"You really thought I didn't see you take it?"

"I thought I was being sneaky," she admits. He looks at her expectantly.

"Play it, then," he says. She loads it into her Pip-Boy, hoping it's the tape she thinks it is and not a snuff tape.

_ "We better find that fucking android soon. That Commonwealth asshole, Zimmer, keeps hounding me for results. If the job didn't pay so well, I'd off that motherfucker myself. He was babbling about a "Lipoplasticator" and "Micro Dermal Graftilizer." What the hell are those? Apparently something doctors use to fuck up someone's face beyond recognition. So we don't even have a description to work off of. To make matters worse, he now thinks the android got his memories wiped or something. Find some tech-junkies, knock on some doors, and try to find something called a "Circuit Neuralizer." Knock on some heads, too, if you have to. Get it done!" _

Harkness scoffs once the tape ends.

"An android? Really?" he sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me you fell for it?

"You don't think it's real?" she asks.

"No. I think you're wasting your time," he says, taking one last, long puff before dropping his cigarette filter over the railing into the irradiated river. She looks out across the Potomac to the broken bow of the boat, and Preston's words come back to her.

_ "He was always telling folks that he founded Rivet City. All he did was break off the front of it."_

"What can you tell me about Pinkerton?" she says, and he groans.

"Listen kid, I don't have time for fucking ghost stories, all right? He's dead, and now he doesn't matter. Let's get you back to your body guard before he throws a conniption fit."

* * *

Charon sits at Gary's Galley, compulsively looking around for Sunshine. She'd been gone three hours, and all he wants to do is look for her, but he is bound by her word to watch Mei Wong until she gets back.

He tries not to listen to that nagging 'what if' in the back of his mind.

Mei Wong had thanked him for staying with her, and asked his advice about the best kind of gun for her. He helped her pick one out, and she had told him about The Temple of the Union. They sound like people Sunshine would get along with. She falls silent, and Charon is grateful for it. He listens for Sunshine's voice, and tries not to panic when he doesn't hear it.

She walks in with Harkness, and he's out of his seat in an instant. Harkness is smiling at something she said, and his expression turns serious when he sees Charon walking toward them. Charon meets them in the middle of the marketplace, and fights down a surge of something (he won't say jealously) when Harkness rests a hand on her shoulder and leans in to whisper in her ear.

"Keep your bodyguard with you at all times," he murmurs. "Zimmer is as crazy about this 'android' as you are, and I can't watch your back all of the time."

"Right. Thanks for the rescue," she answers back. Harkness nods at Charon and leaves the two alone.

"Rescue?" the ghoul demands, and the vault-dweller winces.

"Long story. I'll tell it to you on the way to the broken bow."

* * *

"He fucking pulled a gun on you?" Charon fumes, and Sunshine nods guiltily. "Jesus, kid."

"I know, I know. But I'm okay now," she says as they reach the door to the broken bow. They're quite a way from the main entrance to Rivet City. She tries the knob to find it locked. She kneels down and begins to pick the lock, Dogmeat at her heels.

"Well, the sooner we warn this android about the danger he's in, the better. Then it can be his problem," Charon grumbles, crossing his arms. Sunshine breaks a bobby pin.

"Damn it," she swears, pulling out another one. "Yeah, well I won't be happy until Zimmer is gone. " Charon lights a smoke, and looks over at the Jefferson Memorial.

"You know, its right there," he says. "We could go check it real quick."

"I couldn't-"_Snap! "_Damn it, face my father if I left an innocent person to be made a slave. He'd find out," she says, pulling out another bobby pin. "He'd know, too."

"I wouldn't tell him," Charon offers. She shakes her head as another bobby pin breaks. She gently pushes Dogmeat's tail out of her face.

"He'd be able to tell just by looking at me," she says, attempting to pick the lock one last time. "I also always used to get the feeling he could read my mind." Charon chuckles as the bobby pin snaps in half. Sunshine lets out a very unlady-like curse, and stands up. "Shit. There has to be another way in."

She looks around, and he follows her. She checks for another door along the ship's wall, and grows increasingly frustrated when she doesn't see one. She swears again. Then she sees it. A beacon shining from underneath the dirty Potomac. A single door, hidden in a crevice underneath the water. Charon catches her eye.

"Absolutely not."

"Do you see another way in?" she retorts. He looks back at the water.

"At least take some Rad-X," he says. She nods, already opening her pack. She gently tells Dogmeat to stay behind, and he emits a soft whine, even when she pats his head. Charon looks at her exposed, smooth skin and sighs. "Do you have a radiation suit?"

"Nope," she says cheerfully, swallowing a Rad-X, and he groans.

* * *

Sunshine's lungs burn, but she can't tell if it's from holding her breath or the radiation. She struggles to get the door open, and her heart sinks in her chest when she sees how much water is still in front of her. Charon doesn't seem to be having any trouble, even pulling her along for the last stretch. When her head breaks the surface, she takes in a beautiful breath of air. She coughs up some of the water she accidentally swallowed, and Charon pats her back.

"Suck it up, smoothskin," he says almost affectionately. "I'd hate to have to give you CPR."

"Hardy-har-har," she says, playfully pushing his arm. His face is close to hers, too close, and she idly wonders if he means it. Charon looks at her for a long moment before pulling himself out of the water. His leather armor clings to his form and she stares at the bare, skinless muscles in fascination.

"I would have killed to have known you when I had to take anatomy," she says. He snorts, offering his hand to pull her up, and she gratefully accepts it. She loses her balance after her jerks her up, and his arms wrap around her waist as if on instinct. She snuggles into his warmth unconsciously, and he clears his throat.

"You ready?" he asks. A faint blush creeps over her cheeks.

"Sorry. You're warm," she mutters. He laughs, removing his shotgun from its holster.

"Let's get this over with so we can dry off and get into a warm bed," he says, and she doesn't ask if it's going to be the same bed.

There are mines and traps all over the place. She almost waltzes into more than a few of them, and would have blown all of her limbs off if it hadn't been for Charon. He takes care of the stray Mirelurks than run around, and Sunshine finds the door she couldn't pick the lock to. She opens it and calls Dogmeat to her, and he happily comes running. Satisfied that her party is together again, they make their way to the back of the ship.

They reach a door and she hits the switch to open it, only to come face to face with an angry looking old man pointing a shotgun in her face.


	10. Code Violet

Chapter Ten: Code Violet

"Wow. Ghosts really don't fuck around, do they?" Charon asks dryly, aiming his own shotgun back at the man.

"How the hell did you get in here?" the man demands.

"We snuck through an underwater door," Sunshine explains, placing a hand on Charon's forearm. "We just want to talk to you." The old man sighs before lowering his gun.

"Well, if you made it here alive, you must really want to talk to me. This is the part where you tell me what the hell you are doing bothering an old man who obviously wants to be left alone? Get on with it!" he barks.

"We're here about the android," Sunshine answers. "Tell us about the memory wipe and the facial reconstruction." Pinkerton tilts his head.

"What are you on about, kid? I don't know any of that, and a-what did you call it? A cyborg? What's that?" For a brief, fleeing moment, she thinks that she is horribly wrong, and Pinkerton really doesn't know anything. But she sees a mischievous, knowing glint in his eyes, and so she persists.

"I know you know," she says quietly. "Tell me. The android has bad men after him. He needs to be warned." Pinkerton rolls his eyes, but begins to speak.

"Fine. Whatever. This android, calls himself 'Harkness' now, comes in and wants a memory job. I take his old memories and replace them with new ones. Simple. I don't believe anyone has down that before. Especially not down here. That Commonwealth tech isn't all that complicated when it comes down to it," he gloats, and she feels almost sick at his prideful manner. "I'm also the only one with the skill and the nerve to perform facial surgery. That android flesh ain't so different from ours."

"Harkness?" she whispers, a sinking feeling pooling in the pit of her stomach. Charon shoots her a worried look, his hand coming to rest on her shoulder.

"Do you want proof?" Pinkerton asks, already walking to his terminal. "I documented it all so I could rub it in 'Doctor' Li's face when I need to rankle her feathers. I hate that snooty bitch."

"The android?" Charon asks, squeezing her shoulder. Pinkerton waves his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, sure. Take these pictures, and this holotape. Straight from the replicant's lips." Sunshine moves over to the terminal, her hands shaking. She access Pinkerton's files, and her lip curls when she reads the one labeled 'I did it!'. Pinkerton didn't care about the android-_Harkness_- as a person. He is just another notch in his intellectual belt buckle.

"What is it you aren't telling me?" she calls to Pinkerton. He makes a face, but answers her.

"Oh, all right. I didn't completely wipe his memories. They're still there, buried deep, which is just as good. But they're still there. Still accessible. You need an activation code: Activate A3-21 Recall Code Violet."

With a heavy heart, she downloads the files to her Pip-Boy, and motions for Charon to follow her. She leaves Pinkerton without saying a word.

* * *

"_My designation is __A3-21__, Codename: Deckard_," the recording starts. Charon notices Sunshine's unease.

"What are you going to do?" he asks.

"_I'm a synthetic humanoid from the Commonwealth, and I'm about to undergo a memory transfer. I'm here at Rivet City, where I've already had my face altered to look like someone else_."

"I don't know," she says, her voice sounding lost. "He's in danger, but he obviously went through all of this to escape his past."

_" I'm still getting used to the sound of my new voice, but soon I won't even remember what I used to sound like."_

"He's probably better off not knowing," she says.

"But you're going to tell him anyway," Charon states.

"_I'm recording this at the request of Pinkerton, who performed the surgery and will do the memory transfer_."

"You think this is wrong, don't you?" she asks forlornly.

"I think you're trying to do the right thing, and that entails sacrifices," he answers. "Zimmer won't leave, and he'll find out about Harkness eventually."

_"It will be a final testimony of the man I once was... and still am, for the moment_." The leave by way of the ground-level door, and she shields her eyes from the now setting sun. She swears.

"_I want to live my own life, on my own terms, as my own man. I used to work for the __Synth Retention Bureau__ of the Commonwealth. But I'm done with that life. I'm through with being someone's property. I am not malfunctioning! Since when is self determination a malfunction?"_

"It isn't, Harkness," she murmurs in reply to the disembodied voice on the recording. The entrance to Rivet City looms over her like an executioner wielding his scythe.

* * *

She finds Harkness eating at Gary's Galley, and wonders, _Can androids eat? Can they get drunk? _ She finds herself wondering about the mechanics of Harkness despite herself, and loathes and respects his creators all at once for making him so much like a human.

When he sees he, a weary sort of smile cracks over his face. He waves her over, and with a deep breath, she follows his summons.

"Hey there," he greets. He takes a vicious bite of Mirelurk cake, and crumbs stick to his chin. He wipes them off before taking a deep swig of his beer. "How goes the hunt for the robot?"

"About that," she says nervously, eyeing all of the people gathered to eat dinner. "I need to talk to you." He nods, finishing off the last dregs of his drink, and stands.

"Come on," he says, all business. "There's a place where we can talk." Charon moves to follow her, not liking the look in Harkness' eyes, but she stops him with a soft hand on his arm.

"Stay here. It'll be better if it's just me," she says.

"As you command," he says unhappily, and she tries not to focus on how much she's grown to hate leaving him behind. She follows Harkness through the twists and turns of Rivet City, not really paying attention to their surroundings.

_How am I going to break it to him? Is this even the right thing to do? _

She's so lost in her thoughts that she runs into the back of him when he stops. He laughs, a rosy color to his cheeks, and she realizes that he is in a better mood than she has ever seen him. He reaches behind her to shut the door, and that's when she notices their surroundings.

They're in a room that obviously belongs to Harkness. The bed's sheets lay haphazardly over the mattress, and empty beer and soda bottles litter the floor. Open books lay draped over the furniture, and empty plasma rifle magazines lay dormant on his nightstand.

"Sorry about the mess," he says, sounding like he doesn't know what to do with himself. He shrugs out of his rifle holster. "What'd you need?" he asks, plopping down on his bed to remove his boots.

"About the android," she says, and he groans.

"This again? Really?" He asks, shrugging out of the top part of his armor, leaving his chest covered by only a thin white muscle shirt. "That isn't why you're here, is it?"

"Uh, what else would I be here for?" she asks, tilting her head. Suddenly she isn't so sure of herself. The look in Harkness' eyes is strange, and she shifts from foot to foot nervously. He stares at her for a long, intense moment. He motions her over, and she halfheartedly walks over to him. He pats the spot next to him, and she sits down uneasily. She shifts uncomfortably in the face of his gaze.

"What?" she finally asks. He leans over and she tenses, but all he does is bury his face in the crook were her neck meets her shoulder. "Harkness?"

"You really are just a kid, aren't you?" he murmurs against her skin. "Chasing robots and ghosts and not having the good sense to realize when someone is propositioning you."

"Propositioning me to what?" she asks, not liking the direction this conversation is going. He chuckles, shaking his head, and his hand reaches up to cup her chin. His eyes are a deep, rich blue, so blue that they look almost fake, and her chest tightens at the thought of what he really is. He leans forward, and his lips feel achingly real against hers.

"Harkness," she says, and he breaks away almost impatiently. "Harkness, it's you."

"What is?" he asks, almost tripping over his words as he presses soft kisses to her cheeks.

"You're the android." He sighs, his hands stilling their wandering on her hips.

"Kid, I'm too drunk for this existentialism bullshit," he says, and she holds her Pip-Boy out to him.

"Look," she urges. He sighs, muttering something about strange vault-dwellers and fucking robots and 'he should have gone to Lana if he'd wanted a good roll in the hay.' His eyes harden when he comes across the pictures of him, and he pushes her arm away angrily, standing up.

"Is this some kind of joke?" he demands. "Where do you get off?"

"Harkness," she pleads. "Please. It's the truth."

"I can't be a robot. I breathe. I eat. Hell, I cut myself shaving this morning! I was bleeding! Robots don't bleed," he almost shouts, and she wonders how deep Pinkerton was able to get his real memories. The thought of being an android is causing him real distress, as much as he wants to pretend it doesn't. The way he denies and rationalizes is almost Freudian.

"I'm so sorry," she says. She doesn't know if she's sorry for the fact that he's an android, or because she's about to bring back all of his hated memories. "Activate A3-21 Recall Code Violet." Harkness lets out a strangled sound of pain before dropping to his knees, clutching his head.

"Harkness!" she cries, running over to him. She struggles to hear what he is saying.

"My God," he croaks. "I remember. I remember it all. From before. Zimmer. The Commonwealth. The Institute. All of those runners I brought down." He looks up at her accusingly, and the tears in his eyes match the ones in her own. "You made me remember. Why?"All of the reasons she gave to Charon earlier seem shallow and pedantic in the face of his pain. So she doesn't say anything, and instead lets him speak. "My God. What am I going to do? My life. Everything was all a lie," he says, clutching at her arms. She shakes her head.

"No, it isn't," she croaks. "It's not. You're not. You're in danger. God, I'm so sorry." He closes his eyes, leaning his head against her shoulder.

"That's why you did this? To warn me? What's your agenda?" he asks, a small, weak smile on his lips as he thinks of their earlier conversation. "Just to help me? To do the right thing?" She doesn't answer him. She can't find her voice. "Jesus, kid. You're a weird one."

"What are you going to do about Zimmer?" she asks.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do," he says, and the violence in his voice is frightening. "I'm going to stuff him in a very small box, and send him up north, where he belongs."


	11. Almost There's

Chapter Eleven: Almost There's

Harkness readies himself, all silence and business. Sunshine urged him to find a way around the violence, but Harkness wouldn't budge. She knows that just kicking Zimmer out of Rivet City wouldn't solve anything, and he might even suspect Harkness because of it, but she hated to be a part of another person's death, indirectly or not.

When he is ready, she follows him out of the room. He stops, and looks over his shoulder to look at her.

"You don't have to come," he says quietly. "You don't have to be a part of it."

"You might need backup," she answers, and he shakes his head.

"Fine. Go get your bodyguard," he orders, looking at her up and down. "You don't look like you'd be much good in a fight by yourself." She bristles a little, but otherwise says nothing as she leaves to go find Charon.

The ghoul is standing where she'd left him with Dogmeat at his feet, and looking lost without someone to follow. She walks up to him and he takes note of her somber expression.

"How'd it go?"

"He's going to kill Zimmer," she answers unhappily.

"Did you really think there was going to be any other way to end this?" Charon asks, pulling out his shotgun. She doesn't answer, and he says, "You can't save everyone, kid. Do I need to go assist Harkness?" She nods, and he hesitantly reaches out to pat her shoulder.

"You can stay here," he says quietly. She shakes her head, pulling out her pistol.

"I'm ok," she says, and he doesn't believe her for a second. "Really, I'm fine. Let's just get this over with."

They walk with each other in silence to find Harkness, and see that he has already gone into the Science Lab after Zimmer. Yelling drifts to them from the room, and Sunshine opens the door in a panic. Zimmer is looking at Harkness with a sort of greed in his eyes, and he says quietly,

"You need to come back with us, A3-21." Harkness' face contorts into an expression of pain, but he answers,

"No. I am my own man." He aims his rifle at Zimmer, pulling the trigger. Zimmer collapses into a pile of green goo, and Harkness takes a shot to the leg from Armitage's gun. Charon makes quick work of Zimmer's bodyguard, and Armiatge falls to the ground, his voice giving out like a wrecked protectron's.

All Sunshine can do is stare at the glowing green pile in horrified fascination, and try to banish the sound of misfiring circuits from her ears.

A scream breaks her out of her trance, and she runs toward Harkness. She drops down to her knees next to him, and examines his wound. She can see the metal circuitry inside, and it almost makes her queasier than if she'd been able to see bone.

She covers the wound with a piece of fabric she rips from her pants leg to hide the wires, and helps Harkness up. He's heavy, much heavier than a human would be, and Charon has to come help her support him. She couldn't do anything for him, but she knew someone who could.

* * *

"You haven't been here two days, and you're already ruining everything," Pinkerton grumbles as he examines the wound in Harkness' leg. Sunshine winces, and answers with a mumbled,

"Sorry." Harkness hisses at the pain through clenched teeth, ignoring the circuits covered in fake blood that protrude from his thigh. He looks at Sunshine, and motions her closer. She reluctantly steps forward.

"Thank you," he says, offering his hand. She takes it, and tries not to focus on the slight differences she can feel when he squeezes her fingers. The differences that she wouldn't have even noticed had she not known what he was. "Even if you brought back what I tried very hard to forget. I can live my life as a man, and not as someone's property. I'm forever grateful for that." She nods, unable to find any words to say. He motions to his plasma rifle leaning next to the gurney he lays on.

"I want you to take my rifle. It's saved my life more times than I can count, and I want you to have it," he says, a playful smirk breaking over his lips. "I think you'd have more use for it than I would now." She makes an indignant noise, and he laughs.

"I can't," she says. "That's your gun. I'd probably kill myself with it." He shakes his head.

"You'll do fine. Please. I'd feel better knowing that it was in your hands," he says.

"All right. But if half the wasteland is green goo by this time next week, it's your fault," she says. He squeezes her hand before letting go of it.

"Did you ever find your father in all of this?" he asks.

"No," she answers, shaking her head. "The next lead is Jefferson Memorial." He nods, and leans back, closing his eyes.

"I won't keep you any longer. I hope you find him. Maybe, when you come back," he teases, opening one eye to look at her. "You'll be able to tell when someone is propositioning you, and we can go from there." She snorts, ignoring the blush that creeps over her cheeks, and answers,

"I'm hoping you have the good sense to not get that boozed up again." He laughs, and waves her away.

"Go find your dad. I'll be good as new soon." She nods, and turns to see Charon looking at her with an unreadable expression. She shrinks underneath his gaze.

"You ready?" she asks. He nods, and they make their way out of the broken bow. She stifles a yawn as the sun comes up.

"You should probably go to sleep," he says, and she shakes her head. She pulls a Nuka Cola out of her pack, popping the cap off and depositing it in her satchel.

"After we check out the memorial," she says, taking a long swig of cola. He looks at her, trying to fight the surge of whatever it was swelling in his chest. It shouldn't matter to him what Harkness was talking about. But he finds that it does, and that troubles him. He stays silent as she leads him to the Jefferson Memorial, and his throat goes dry as she sees her holding the plasma rifle Harkness gave her. She tests the weight, aiming it at an imaginary enemy. After struggling to find his voice, he says quietly,

"Be careful. You'll hurt yourself." She is startled from her examination of the rifle, and smiles sheepishly before holstering it on her back.

"You're right," she says. "I'd better stick to my pistol until I learn how to shoot better." He nods, and guiltily thinks that isn't the only reason he wants her to put that gun away.

The Jefferson Memorial is crawling with super mutants. Sunshine's expression turns a little more terrified with each Frankenstein they take down. Charon wants to reassure her that he'll protect her, but he knows that isn't what she is worried about.

Once they're inside, she frantically begins searching for her father. The place is overrun with super mutants, and she's terrified she'll find her father's corpse lying among the ruins. She can see beakers and Bunsen burners that are rusting over from nearly two decades of disuse, and pushes down her guilt. There isn't any time. She has to find her father.

Charon takes down the mutants before they catch sight of her, and once the halls are clear she moves to the door to the sub-basement. The smell that assaults her nostrils is God awful, and ten times worse than the smell of the metros. She eyes the wire mesh bags filled with human limbs and organs, and tries not to be sick. Charon listens intently for any sounds of hostiles, his hands gripping his shotgun tightly.

"This place isn't safe," he says uneasily. She nods in agreement, but continues to move forward. He stops by one of the gore bags to examine a bright yellow glint he sees amongst the red. Sunshine shoots him a questioning look. When he pries the bag open, she turns a little pale and averts her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she exclaims, hands over her mouth. He chuckles, pulling out his prize: two frag grenades.

"These could come in handy," he says, wiping them off on his pants. At her horrified look, he says, "What? It's not like these poor bastards have any use for 'em." She shudders.

"Let's go," she says weakly. He shakes his head and follows her. There aren't as many super mutants down here, but Charon still keeps a watchful eye on Sunshine. She's distracted, barely hitting the super mutants she shoots at. Her back is tense, and she's looking around nervously, checking every nook and cranny for whatever it is she's searching for. They reach a back room and the first thing that catches Sunshine's eye are all the holotapes that are scattered around. She picks up the one closest to the door, and puts it in her Pip-Boy as she's picking up all of the others. A woman's voice plays, and it's unfamiliar to Sunshine.

_"That batch of tests was inconclusive, but Madison and I are convinced it's a problem with the second filtration system," _the recording says. Sunshine tilts her head to listen. "_ We're going to recalibrate the equipment and try again tomorrow so that... James, please, I'm trying to work. Now's not the time! Ahem. So that's the next step. Assuming we get the results we need, we'll move on to.. James!"_ Sunshine freezes, and listens to the rest of the holotape. A sad expression that doesn't quite belong is on her face, and she silently takes the holotape out once it finishes playing, only to put another one in. She leads him wordlessly out of the sub-basement, the ghostly words of a man he's never met their only conversation.

"Hey, we haven't gone in there yet," he says, pointing to a door that is labeled 'Rotunda'. She nods, and he wants her to say something, anything to get rid of that sadness that blankets her like a radioactive fog. She wordlessly walks through the door, and together they take out the two lone super mutants. She looks around, eyes gazing toward the rotunda, where more of that old decrepit equipment lies.  
"There's nothing here," she says numbly. No dad, but also no dead body. She supposes that, in and of itself, is a good thing.

"I wouldn't say that," Charon replies, motioning to another stack of holotapes. She gives him a weak smile, and it's enough to satisfy Charon for now. She'll be all right, and that's really all he cares about.

Although, he isn't willing to examine how much of that is his contract's fault, and how much of it is his.

"_I'm off to Vault 112 to search for anything of Braun's that might help me get this purifier up and running. All I know is that it's West of some place called "Evergreen Mills," and it's well hidden in some sort of garage," _the voice says. It's the same voice as the earlier recordings.

"Is that your father?" Charon can't help but asking. Sunshine smiles sadly.

"Yes."

"_But I'll find it, I have to. It's so close, but that's the story of Project Purity, isn't it? An eternity of "almost there's". Let's see if Braun has the missing puzzle piece."_

"'An eternity of 'almost there's'," Sunshine muses. "That's the story of my whole life right now, isn't it? Almost there, almost finding Dad. But not quite."

"Not yet," Charon adds. She shakes her head.

"I'm afraid at this rate it'll probably be 'not ever.'"

* * *

They leave the Jefferson Memorial, and Charon helps her program the location of 'Evergreen Mills' into her Pip-Boy.

"Do we have to take a fucking metro?" is the first thing she asks, and he thumps her on the nose.

"Language, young lady," he teases. "No. We can make it staying above ground."

"Good," she grumbles, rubbing her nose. They leave Rivet City and the Jefferson memorial behind them. Sunshine looks behind them every so often, but Charon tries not to pay any attention, instead keeping his eyes focused in front of them. The wasteland blurs together for Sunshine. She can't tell anything apart. Everything is brown, dull and dead. She turns on her Pip-Boy radio to break the silence.

"_One dog ain't enough, and two is too low, so it's me, Threeee dooooooooog!" _ Sunshine chuckles, and Charon raises a ruined eyebrow at her.

"_Hohoo, boy! Children, you are going to loooove this! Okay, so I told you about James, the guy from the Vault. And then I told you about somebody else crawled out of it too, right? Weeeeeeeeeeeeell, guess who came to visit ol' Three Dog in his luxurious studio in beautiful downtown DC! That's right, the other Vault Dweller! Now, you wanna know if it gets better, don't you? Well, hell yes, it gets better! Turns out Vault Dweller number two was none other than James' kid! I know, I know, I couldn't make this shit up!" _ She sighs, and switches the radio off before moodily glaring at the setting sun.

"You okay, kid?" Charon asks gruffly, wincing at how rough his voice sounds.

"I will be. It's just discouraging, you know?" she says, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. He didn't know, but he let her continue talking. "I was happy in the Vault. Happy with my life. I could have-and would have-stayed there for the rest of my life."

"What changed?"

"Dad left, and suddenly I was public enemy number one. I couldn't stay, not without dying."

"What was he like?" Charon asks, more to get that sad look off of her face than anything else. "Your dad?"

"I couldn't tell you," she answers after a moment. "Not now. Now, I feel like I hardly knew him. Like he's just a figment of my imagination." She looks down at her Pip-Boy.

"Tell me what you remember," Charon persists. She gives him a weary smile.

"Why the sudden interest?" she asks. He couldn't say. He never really cared about the pasts of his employers. Most kept to themselves, and others, like Ahzurkhal, never really shut up. He hadn't cared before, but he does with her.

She's different from all of his other employers, and he finds himself caring about her despite himself.

He simply shrugs, and she answers him.

"He was-is-a good man. A damned good doctor. He was always going out of his way to help the other Vault residents. He always did his best to make sure I stayed out of trouble."

"Were you a hellion? Was there a wild side I'm not seeing?" he teases, and is rewarded with a soft laugh.

"If by raising hell you mean reading restricted books. There was a large collection of books, but for whatever reason some were labeled as unsuitable for most of the Vault residents for the 'possibility of corrupting their moral fiber'. That was really the worst I ever did, besides filching the good holotapes from the entertainment room." At his look, she protests, "Dad always went with me, and we almost always put them back."

"'Almost always', huh?"

"You shush," she says, and he's happy to see the smile back on her face.

"What would you have done, had you stayed in the Vault?" he asks. She doesn't belong out here, but she doesn't look like she belongs cooped up underground either.

"When I took my G.O.A.T, that is my Generalized Occupation Aptitude Test, my result was clinical test subject," she says, shaking her head. "In other words, I would have worked with my father in the clinic."

"And you would have been happy?" he asks lowly. She looks at him, and says with utter certainty,

"Yes. I believe I would have." She yawns, and shakes her head.

"We'd better make camp," Charon says, and she nods. He motions for her to sit down while he starts a campfire. She does, ignoring the faint ticking of her Geiger counter. They're making camp close to the remnants of the Potomac river, but they should be far enough away for her to unaffected by the radiation the water gives off.

"I wish I'd thought to take advantage of the warm, dry beds in Rivet City," she says, hugging Dogmeat close to her for warmth. Charon's throat goes dry again, and he takes a swig of whiskey to wet it.

"Your loss, kid," he murmurs, and the look she gives him is indecipherable.

"Tell me about you, Charon," she says, and his heart skips a beat. "All we've done is talk about me. "

"I'm not interesting," he grunts, shifting uneasily. "You're the interesting one." She notices his discomfort, and gently says,

"You don't have to tell me your secrets if you don't want to. You can just tell me something simple." She stretches her legs out, and Charon's eyes are drawn to the bare skin of her leg, where she'd ripped the fabric off as a makeshift bandage for Harkness.

"Simple, huh? Like what?" he asks, pouring some whiskey on the fire to ignite it before taking a swig. The burn of it sliding down his throat is almost enough to make him forget the burn stirring up elsewhere.

"Well, what makes you happy?" she asks. He chuckles before moving to sit down beside her. He follows her gaze, where she's looking out to the close remnants of the Potomac, and answers,

"I've always found happiness in a warm gun." She gives him a startled look before laughing, and he finds that he's missed that sound more often than not in the past couple of days. She yawns again, leaning into him, and he finds that it is easier to wrap his arm around her shoulders than it was before. She's dirty and in need of a bath, smelling like foul river water, but he doesn't care. He's sure he smells worse, and he likes the feel of her warm against him. He idly considers pressing a kiss to her forehead, but stops when he sees the tell-tale glint of a sniper rifle. He pushes her down, and grits his teeth as he takes a bullet to the chest.

Sunshine pushes herself up just in time to see Charon fall to the side. Even with his wound, his fingers are reaching for his shotgun. She moves over to him, rolling him on his back. The wound hit him just below the shoulder, and mere centimeters away from his heart. He groans, blood gushing out to stain the front of his armor. She can hear the whooping cries of "Talon Company!" play over and over in her head like a broken holotape.

"Charon?" she asks, her voice small and broken.

"Get out of here," he rasps, aiming his shotgun at an advancing mercenary before felling him with a single shot. He groans again, trying to push Sunshine away. Dogmeat barks wildly, and she manages to keep the dog from running to maul their attackers. She shakes her head, and injects his wound with a stimpak. He hisses as the medicine enters his bloodstream, and Sunshine tries not to despair. The bullet made a clean shot through Charon, but it won't heal with just the stimpak alone. She rips more fabric from her pants, holding it to Charon's wound to stop the bleeding.

_She's going to die if she doesn't move_, Charon thinks, and his programming forces him to sit up to protect her.

"Don't move," she says, and he shakes his head. "That's an order, Charon. Hold this to your chest."

"Kid, your next words better be 'I'm getting out of here,'" he growls, his vision growing blurry. She takes a grenade off of his belt, and says,

"Let me save your ass for once." He opens his mouth to try and talk her out of it, but she's already moved away from him. She tells Dogmeat to stay with Charon, and the ghoul can barely hear the dog's whining over his hammering heart. He tries to keep his eyes open, watching Sunshine's figure in his swimming vision, but he slumps over, blood leaking into the dirt.

Sunshine sees two Talon Company mercs gloating over shooting Charon, ignoring their fallen comrade as if he didn't exist. One of them stops long enough to kick the corpse, and the other says,

"More caps for us."

They continue chattering, oblivious to Sunshine waiting in the shadows. She lobs a grenade at them, and tries not to curse when it missed her mark. It goes off, and still takes out the one closest to it. He slumps over, dead, and his friend struggles to get up. His leg is mangled, and he tries to reach for his rifle. Sunshine notes that it's the same caliber that hit Charon, and walks over to him with her plasma rifle raised.

"You," she says quietly. He grins sadistically.

"What's a-matter, girly? Pissed off that we capped your pet ghoul? I don't care how many good deeds you've done, that's fucking sick-" She doesn't let him finish, instead aiming her rifle at his head and pulling the trigger. He didn't turn into a pile of green goo like Zimmer, and somehow it's worse. Half of his face is scorched, and in his hand is clenched a crumpled sheet of paper. She ignores it, looking around for other enemies. She sees more mercs coming their way, but she thinks she has enough time to help Charon. Her gun clatters to her feet, and she runs back to Charon.

The ghoul is slumped over on the ground, shotgun clenched in his hands.

"Charon!" she cries, falling to her knees next to him. He's barely breathing, and she checks his wound. It's closing, but not fast enough to staunch his blood loss. He'll bleed out before the stimpak takes full effect. Tears blur her vision, and she hears the first gunshots that the second group of mercs fire.

"Don't die on me!" she pleads, racking her brain for anything to do to save him. She sees the setting sun glimmering off of the murky Potomac, and she remembers the radiation flowing off of the water. The radiation should be strong enough to heal Charon, and so she slips her arms underneath his to take him to the river. He's heavy, almost too heavy for her. She ends up having to drag him to the water, watching his feet make streaks in the bloody wasteland dirt. She shivers when she hits water up to her knees, and her teeth start to chatter when it reaches her waist. Her Geiger counter begins ticking like a dancing madwoman, and Charon begins to stir. She ignores the hot feeling that the radiation causes, and pulls him deeper into the river.

"Wake up, Charon," she whispers, her hands clenching his limp form. "Wake up." Her Geiger counter's needle moves up into the orange part of the meter, and she struggles to keep her eyes open. Her radiation levels are dangerously high, but that doesn't matter to her.

All that matters is Charon.

Charon feels a pleasant warmness seeping through his blood, like he's lying in the softest bed in the wasteland curled up next to a pretty woman. His chest hurts slightly, and when he looks down at it he sees his bullet wound closing rapidly next to small pale hands clutching his armor. He feels energized, if a little weak from blood loss. He hears the taunting cries of Talon Company mercenaries, and wastes no time using the shotgun clenched in his hands.

"Yeah!" he cries triumphantly after felling the first merc. The others look at their comrade's corpse, and the one who aims at Charon first eats the next bullet. Sunshine's hands loosen their grip on Charon's armor, and she rests her forehead against his back. Her vision is swimming in and out, and Charon's voice sounds like it is a million miles away. The one who begins to turn tail is the one Charon kills next. "What's the matter? Can't stand the sight of your own blood?" Charon stands panting, the cool night air quenching the fire in his blood. He whoops victoriously, pumping his fist in the air.

"Did you see that, kid?" he asks. "They're all dead!" When he doesn't receive an answer, he looks around for the small hands that were clutching his armor. They aren't there, and he looks around. "Sunshine!"

He spots a mop of blonde hair a few feet down river, and panics when he sees Sunshine face down in the water. He holsters his shotgun and swims after her, pulling her up and against him.

Her face is pale and drawn, slowly turning blue. He pulls her to shore, and her body looks dead against the brown dirt. Her Geiger counter is ticking so fast that he thinks it might break. He pushes his hands down on her chest in an effort to get her to cough up some of the water she's swallowed. She's barely breathing.

"Damn it, kid!" He pinches her nose before slamming his mouth to hers. He pushes air into her lungs, and begins pushing on her chest again. "Cough it up!" She coughs, dirty water spilling out of her mouth. He pulls back as she rolls over to throw up.

"That's it," he murmurs softly, rubbing her back. "Let it all out." She coughs, wiping her mouth weakly. He leaves her just long enough to get some Rad Away from her pack. He rips it open with his teeth, and sits next to her. He pulls her against his chest, holding up the Rad Away for her to drink. She takes a small sip, and coughs again.

"That stuff tastes awful," she says weakly.

"Finish it all. Radiation is my friend, smoothskin, not yours." She nods, making a face, but otherwise drinking the Rad Away. He holds her a little tighter than he needs to, but she doesn't complain. She curls up next to him, shivering, and he does his best to keep her warm, and tries not to think about how close they both were to dying.

"That was close, wasn't it?" she murmurs against his shoulder, and he nods, his arms tightening around her.

"Too close," he answers, pressing his ruined lips against the top of her hair. "I'll yell at you later."

Her resulting smile makes it almost worth it.

* * *

Longest chapter yet! I'm not sure how I feel about it. :D


	12. Little Vault Saint

Chapter Twelve: Little Vault Saint

Charon manages to spot an abandoned shack for them to rest in. The color has started to come back to Sunshine's skin, but she's dead on her feet. He could use a little rest himself, but he can make it until he gets her to safety. Sunshine follows him, trying not to stumble over the jagged wasteland rocks.

They stumble into an abandoned shack forgotten by the wasteland. There is one lone, dirty mattress in the corner, but it's big enough for four people. Sunshine collapses onto it, not caring if it's dirty or clean. Charon sweeps the room, looking for any threats.

"Aren't you going to rest?" she asks. He's at the door, barricading it against anything, or anyone, that might come after them.

"In a minute," he answers, making sure the barricade will hold.

Once the room is clear and secure, he sinks down to the floor, his back against the wall on the opposite side of the room from Sunshine.

"Why are you all the way over there?" she asks sleepily. Her eyelids are so heavy that she's having trouble focusing. Charon's form blurs in and out of her vision.

"Resting," he grunts.

"Aren't you uncomfortable?"

"I'll manage."

"Charon, this mattress is huge. You can sleep on it too," she offers, patting the empty space next to her."I won't even hog the blankets. Pinky swear." He hesitates. Her form is lazily draped over the mattress, and he follows the expanse of skin on her leg with his eyes. Dogmeat lies at the foot of the mattress, and her toes tangle in his fur. Her breathing is slow and deep, if a little unsteady from their ordeal. She's just trying being nice, but she has no idea what she's offering. He eyes the mattress doubtfully before moving over to it, and to her.

She's falling asleep, and Three Dog's voice plays from the speakers of her Pip-Boy. Her hair sticks to her forehead, looking more brown than blonde, and grimy streaks of mud cover her cheeks. He brushes some of the caked on dirt away to expose the smooth skin underneath. His fingers linger far longer than necessary, and she leans into his touch. His stomach clenches as his fingers tangle in her hair.

_No idea at all. _

Her armor is close to falling apart again, the spots that Quinn mended the only things keeping it from falling off of her entirely. His gaze greedily takes in the patches of exposed skin, and smooth muscle. The cloth covering her leg is practically gone from the times she's used it as makeshift bandages. He runs a hand down her side, and guiltily notices how her ribs have started to jut out ever so slightly. He needs to make sure she eats more, and stops staying up for days at a time.

Her brow furrows in discomfort, and his hands still on her waist. She whimpers, whispering a word he can't make out. He leans forward, telling himself that he's only going to listen to what she is trying to say. His cheek brushes against her lips, and he suppresses a shudder.

When he is this close, he can see how young she really is. Bags weigh down her eyes, and the dirt makes her look world weary, but her youth is still visible. _She's just a kid, _he thinks, even as he leans closer to her, his large arm draped over her waist. An aching want burns deep within him, and he trembles in anticipation as he leans forward ever so slightly. His lips are so close to hers he can almost feel them. _You rotten old man. _

"_So James, if you're out there," _Three Dog's voice pleads, snapping Charon out of his trance. "_Your kid is out too. She's looking for you. And she misses you." _ She speaks again in her sleep, the furrows in her brow deeper, and he pushes away from her, stumbling to his feet. He takes a deep breath to center himself, and he can barely hear anything else over his panting. He shoots one last look a Sunshine, who still sleeps, blissfully unaware of the state he is in. He feels a sick churning in his stomach, and throws a blanket over her to hide her form from his gluttonous eyes. Suddenly, the room is too small, and he's trapped like an animal in a cage. He moves as far away from her as he can get while still inside the shack, and his back hits the far wall with a thud. He slides down to the floor, and hangs his head.

"_Daddy," _her sad voice echoes in his head.

_You rotten old man._

* * *

Sunshine stretches as she wakes, her muscles creaking and her joints popping. She sits up, and a blanket falls off of her. She smiles while rubbing the scratchy, moth-eaten fabric between her fingers. Charon must have covered her up after she'd gone to sleep.

"Hey, thanks," she says, and looks around when she doesn't hear an answer. "Charon?" She doesn't see him anywhere, and so she rolls off of the mattress to stand. She opens the door to the shack, and is hit with a cold burst of air. The sky is dark, and the stars struggle to shine through the clouds. Dogmeat sleepily follows her out.

"Charon?" she calls, cupping her hand to make her voice echo. "Where are you?" She shivers, crossing her arms across her chest. "Charon, it's cold. Where are you?"

"Quiet," she hears a rough voice command, and she jumps. She turns to see Charon crouched in the shadows, aiming his shotgun in the distance. She can make out the faint black outline of something, but to her it just looks like a formless blob. Charon fires off a shot, and she sees the blob fall over. She crouches down next to him, but he stands, brushing past her. She scrambles up to follow him.

"What is it?"

"Yao Guai," he answers, walking at a brisk pace. She struggles to keep up, but the distance between them still grows. She finally catches up to him when he stops to cut meat off of the animal. It's a mutated bear, its fur molted and thin. She can see the patches of skin from where the fur had stopped growing all together. When she looks up, she can see the corpses of other animals littering the area.

Charon cuts the edible meat off of the Yao Guai, and turns to head back to their camp. She follows him, but he doesn't say anything the entire way back. When they get there, he sits down to start another campfire, and she sits down next to him. He stiffens, and shifts to move his body away from her.

"Everything ok?" she asks.

"Fine," he grunts. "Just peachy."

Sunshine feels that everything is not fine, or peachy, and she tells him so. He stops cooking the Yao Guai meat to look up at her.

"You can tell me," she says, offering a smile. "We're friends, aren't we?" He looks at her for an intense moment, and leans forward. She thinks he might kiss her, and she finds that she would be quite all right with that. But he just gently pushes her away from him, and says,

"There's nothing in my contract that says I have to be your friend." He tries not to flinch at the hurt look in her eyes, and goes back to cooking.

"Okay," she says after a long, tense moment. "You obviously don't want to talk to me right now. I'll be in the shack if you do." She stands up, and reaches out to touch his shoulder. He tries not to balk, and her hand falls limply to her side. She gives him a weak smile, and all but flees back to the shack, the door slamming behind her. He sighs, his hand rubbing his forehead. Dogmeat tilts his head questioningly, and Charon reaches out to pet him.

_It's going to be a long night._ Sunshinesits on the large, dirty mattress, and leans back to stare at the ceiling. She decides after a while that there are too many cracks in the ceiling to count. She reaches for her pack to read _Paradise Lost, _and finds it tuck in the bag with the utmost care, wrapped in her Vault Suit to protect it.

_I'll protect this book as I would protect you. _She smiles, running her hand over the spine lovingly. She really should thank him. Her brow furrows. She wonders what she did to make him mad at her. She looks at the door. _I'll just apologize for whatever it was when he comes back in to sleep. _

She stays up all night waiting for him, and he doesn't ever open the door.

Charon doesn't sleep, instead sitting next to the door to make sure nothing goes after her. He supposes it is cruel to be so cold to her, but he doesn't need to get too close. She is his employer, and he is her bodyguard. That's all that matters, and all he could ever be. All he needs to be. It would be cruel, to the both of them, to think that he could ever be anything more.

* * *

Sunshine stumbles out of the shack the next morning, Nuka Cola clenched in her hand. She takes a deep swig of it, and looks down at Charon. The bags underneath her eyes are more pronounced than they were yesterday, and Charon guiltily looks down at her feet.

"You ready to head out?" she asks, and he nods, standing up. She smiles brilliantly, taking another swig of cola. He opens his mouth to tease her about becoming addicted to the soda, but clamps it shut again. He follows her into the wasteland, keeping an eye out for danger.

An eye that keeps straying to look at her form outlined against the sun. She brushes her hair behind her ear, and he notices that in the time he has known her, it's grown longer, shaggy and uneven. She fiddles with her Pip-Boy radio until Three Dog's voice croons again over the air waves, and the Adverntures of Herbert "Daring" Dashwood start.

"_It's me-Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood, and my stalwart ghoul man-servant, Argyle!"_

"We could start our own radio show," she says, eyeing him. He can't help himself from raising an eyebrow. She waves her hand with a dramatic flourish, and mimics Three Dog's voice. "The kid from Vault 101, and her stalwart ghoul man-servant Charon!" He lets out a snort before he can stifle it, and it turns into a full blown laugh. She laughs with him, and he's happy to hear it. After they finish laughing, she hesitantly touches his arm.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you angry," she says, and it feels like his heart is going to sink into the wasteland dirt. He swallows, and opens his mouth to answer her.

"Well, if it isn't the little saint from the Vault," a voice says, causing both of them to turn. A Talon Company merc is aiming his rifle at them, and Charon curses for letting the mercenaries get the drop on them. He pulls Sunshine behind him, and reaches for his shotgun. "We've been looking for you. Someone's put quite the price on your head."

"A bounty? What? Why?" Sunshine demands from behind Charon, struggling to look past his arm. The mercenary seems taken aback.

"For disarming the bomb at Megaton, among other things. Did you honestly think that you could get away with doing the things that you do, and no one would take notice?"

"We can talk about this," she offers, and Charon uses the mercenaries shock against them. The one who spoke to them takes a shot to the chest, and Charon manages to shoot the other two before they gather enough composure to aim at him. Sunshine stares wordlessly as he begins to search them, and finds one still alive reaching for his gun. He kicks the weapon away, and shoots him again.

"I was going to negotiate," she says weakly. He shakes his head, pulling out some ammo, and finds a crumpled sheet of paper hidden in the box.

"Talon mercs don't negotiate," he says. "They usually shoot on sight. We got lucky with these Einstiens." He takes in the young, smooth faces of the newly deceased mercenaries. He shakes his head again. "Poor bastards must've been new." He unfolds the piece of paper, and is unsurprised when it turns out to be the bounty on Sunshine. What surprises him is the note scrawled at the bottom, with faint lines looking like it had been erased numerous times before the author decided once and for all to leave it.

_Find Sunshine, and show her how we treat people that fail to live up to Mr. Tenpenny's expectations. Do not fail me. You know what will happen if you arouse my displeasure.-B_

"Huh," he breathes, handing the note to Sunshine. "The letter 'B' mean anything to you?" She turns red and snatches the paper from him. She reads it, and bites her lip.

"Sweet talk a man out of blowing up a settlement, and he sends hitmen after you," she murmurs, rubbing the note with her thumb until the writing smudges. "Jerk." She crumples it in her fist, and shoves it in her pocket.

"You mind making a pit stop? There's someone I have to have some words with." He nods.

"Where ever you go, I shall follow."


	13. Playing with Fire

Chapter Thirteen: Playing with Fire

"Honestly, I'd be totally lost without you," Sunshine says as they make their way to their destination. Tenpenny Tower looms in the distance.

"Couldn't find your way out of a wet paper sack," Charon grunts before he can stop himself, and she chuckles.

"Yeah, well. I was always getting turned around in the Vault, even though there weren't very many places to go," she says, leaning back to stretch with her arms thrown over her head. Charon averts his gaze to watch Dogmeat, who yips happily, and dances around her feet. She cuts her eyes over to him. "I'm glad you're talking to me again."

"Sorry, kid," he sighs. She shakes her head.

"No apology needed. We are friends, remember?" He nods, smiling. She smiles back before her mouth opens in a yawn.

"How far do you think Tenpenny Tower is?"

"Not very. You gonna be able to make it that far, kid?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine." At Charon's skeptical look, she reassures, "No, really. I just kind of wanna get this over with."

"Who put the price on your head?" At his question, her face flushes a pretty pink. She opens her mouth to answer, and then shuts it again. "Sunshine?"

"You can tell Tenpenny he can kiss my ass! We've got plenty of bottlecaps! Let me in, God damn it!" They turn to see the faint outline of a ghoul against Tenpenny Tower. He's yelling into the intercom, and they can hear him even though they haven't reached the tower yet. The ghoul continues yelling.

"Can't you tell the difference between me and a feral? I'll show you the goddamn difference! You'll get yours! All of you!" He is gone by the time they reach the intercom. Sunshine presses the button, and hears an agitated sigh come from the other end.

"I thought I told you to get the hell outta here! Tenpenny doesn't want your caps, and I don't want the damn headache! For the last time, get your rotting, ugly, goddamned Ghoul ass off of Mr. Tenpenny's private property!"

"You treat all your guests this way?" Sunshine asks.

"What?" the voice says. "No. Just those damn ghouls." Charon raises an eyebrow, and motions to himself. She holds up a finger. "What can I do for you, ma'am?"

"I'm here to see Burke."

"That's _Mr. Burke. _And why would you need to see him?" Her face turns red again, and she leans closer to the intercom in an effort to be discrete, but Charon can still hear what she says.

"Tell him his songbird is here to see him. He'll understand." The voice on the intercom stays silent for a moment before answering.

"It's you. All right, hold on a minute."

"Songbird?" Charon asks quietly, pushing down his displeasure. She laughs nervous, her fingers straying to play with her Pip-Boy.

"It's kind of a long story," she answers. "Really very boring and uninteresting. You wouldn't want to hear it."

"Try me," he says, and she continues to fiddle nervously with her Pip-Boy. Instead of answering him, she pushes the button on the intercom again.

"Are you still there?"

"Hold on a second! Don't get your panties in a twist!" the voice says, and the gate to Tenpenny Tower opens with a groan. She sees three guards standing off to the side, and she walks in. The one in the middle, whom she assumes is the leader, points his gun at Charon.

"What is _that _ doing here?" he demands, and Charon bares his teeth in a snarl. Sunshine gently puts her hand on his arm, and says to the man,

"_He _is my bodyguard, and I don't go anywhere without him."

"You can't bring that thing in Tenpenny Tower," the man says. "No way, no how."

"Tell me, does being head of security for this place really pay all that well?" Sunshine asks, and he eyes her warily.

"It pays enough," he answers. She reaches for her satchel.

"How about I give you a little extra to let my friend in? Just a little something between us, Mr.-?"

"Gustavo," he answers, eyeing her satchel of caps hungrily. She smiles winningly, her face looking beautiful despite the dirt and grime that covers it.

"Gustavo," she says, rolling the syllables over her lips, much to Charon's chagrin. "Hundred caps enough?" He nods, and she counts out the money to give to him. He nods at her, motioning for her to go forward.

"You can bring it, but make sure it behaves," he says, glaring at Charon. Charon glares back, only to have his arm patted by Sunshine again.

"_Charon _will be on his best behavior, won't you?" she asks. He hates the tone she's affecting, but he finds himself nodding. She winks at Gustavo, and motions for Charon to follow her. He leans down to whisper in her ear.

"What the fuck was that display about?" She has the decency to look ashamed of herself, and it quells part of the anger that is welling up in Charon.

"It's something Nova taught me when I first left the Vault," she whispers back. "She told me, 'Honey, you're a woman in a man's wasteland. You're gonna have to learn to be a black widow, and eat men whole before they chew you up and spit you out.'"

"Who the hell is Nova?" he asks.

"She's a friend of mine back in Megaton," she says, averting her gaze to the ceiling. "She's also a whore." Before Charon can answer, he hears the click of a gun from behind them.

"Well, darling. You look worse for wear. A couple of run-ins with Talons, I suspect?" a deep, sultry voice says from behind them. Charon reaches for his shotgun, but Sunshine grabs his wrist.

"Trust me," she murmurs before raising her voice and turning to face the man. "They were lovely distractions, Burke. How thoughtful of you." Charon tenses as Burke steps closer to her. It takes all of his willpower not to attack when the man touches the side of her face with the barrel of his gun.

"What brings you here after all of this time?"

"Those gifts of yours. I'm growing rather tired of them. I'd like you to take them back," she answers, and Burke tsks.

"Now, darling, why would I do such a thing? After all, they are well deserved." She eyes Burke with a look that Charon has only fantasized about, and presses her lips to the side of the barrel of Burke's gun.

"Come now. Do you really want me dead that badly, lover?" Burke's free hand reaches up to pull at his tie, and he clears his throat.

"You tricked me," he says. "Talking me out of destroying that cesspool and then disarming that bomb, when you knew that Tenpenny had good reason for wanting it to blow up."

"I wasn't lying when I said I lived there. Would you blow up Tenpenny Tower?" Sunshine tilts her head rather fetchingly, subtly pouting her lips. "I was only protecting my home." Burke shifts uneasily.

"I would have brought you here to live with me."

"But you didn't. You sent hitmen after me," she says, exaggerating a loud sniffle. "You stopped sending me letters!" Burke lowers his gun, and grasps her hand.

"You never replied, my dear!" She sniffles again, and acts like she is wiping her eyes, but Charon sees the subtle wink she sends his way. She reaches into her armor to pull out a stack of what looks like letters.

"It's hard to find a courier that isn't myself," she says, holding the stack out to him. Stunned, Burke takes them. "I've been a busy woman, love."

"You certainly have," Charon grumbles, causing Sunshine to elbow him harshly in the ribs. Burke notices him for what seems to be the first time, and he tsks again.

"I didn't think you the sort to keep company with animals, my dear girl." Charon bristles at that, and Sunshine's brow furrows.

"He's my bodyguard," she answers. "I needed some way to defend myself. What with all the mercenaries coming after me."

"Of course," Burke says, suddenly all business. "About those pesky mercenaries. Tell me, would you be interested in doing me a favor? Say, a trade?"

"What kind of trade?" she asks warily, not liking Burke's smile. He takes her hand again.

"Meet me for dinner tonight, and I'll tell you," he says against the back of her hand. She feels him slip a key between her fingers. "There's an empty suite up on the penthouse floor. You should find everything you need already there for your use." He lets go of her hand and smirks. He turns to walk off, and says over his shoulder. "Get cleaned up, songbird. You really do look awful."

"Jerk," she mutters after his retreating form, and sticks her tongue out. She looks toward Caron to see his disapproving face, and his arms crossed tightly over his chest. She seems to almost collapse into herself. He grits his teeth.

"Songbird?" he asks again, demanding an answer.

"It's just an act," she says weakly.

"Is it? Seemed pretty damn convincing to me."

"In my defense," she says. "It was an act taken on to keep him from destroying a settlement full of good people."

"Could've just shot him," he mutters, and she makes a face. "Be careful, kid. You play with fire, you're bound to get burned eventually."

"I'll be fine," she says. "Pinky swear."

_And I can't always be there to kiss away the pain._

* * *

__Short, but sweet. Happy New Year, you guys! :D


	14. Date With The Devil

Chapter Fourteen: Date with the Devil

"Charon! You old dog, you!" an oddly familiar voice calls as they wander around Tenpenny Tower. Sunshine had insisted on 'checking everything out', much to Charon's displeasure. He wanted to just leave, but she wanted to stay and resolve the matter of the Talon mercenaries with Burke. They turn to see a cheerful old man waving at Charon. Charon smiles back, and takes the hand the man holds out to him.

"Dashwood," he says. "You old bastard. I thought you had died." They shake hands firmly, and Sunshine feels her jaw is going to drop to the floor.

"Dashwood?" she squeaks, and Charon smirks. The old man grins, and holds his hand out to her.

"That's me! Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood," he introduces himself. She stares at his hand dumbstruck before gingerly taking it. Charon leans down and whispers,

"She's a fan of your radio show," he says.

"I'm kind of in love with you, sir," she squeaks. Dashwood laughs.

"Well, now. I'm flattered, my dear. Why don't we all have a drink together? To celebrate old friends," he says, standing on his toes to clasp Charon on the shoulder. He eyes Sunshine before adding, "You may stick to Nuka Cola." She nods, and Charon laughs before agreeing as well. They follow Dashwood back to his room, and the old man cracks open a bottle of scotch. He hands Sunshine a Nuka Cola, and she dutifully takes a drink.

"So, did this strapping young lady acquire your contract, Charon?" Dashwood asks, and Charon nods, accepting the glass of scotch before answering.

"Yes." Dashwood nods to himself, taking a sip of his drink.

"Good thing, too. Ahzurkhal was an unsavory fellow, and you deserve a much better employer than that." At Sunshine, he asks, "So, young lady. You're a fan of my radio show?"

"Yes sir," she squeaks, turning a bright shade of red. "I follow it religiously."

"We're 'the kid from Vault 101 and her stalwart ghoul man-servant, Charon'," Charon deadpans, and Dashwood laughs.

"Imitation is the best form of flattery! That guy at the radio station really took his time with it, making it in the style of those old radio shows. And it's all true! Rockopolis, Penelope Chase, all of it. Of course, they do portray me as a bit of a chump. Argyle may have saved my hide more than once, but I had my moments. Ah, those were the days," he sighs wistfully, gazing down into his glass of scotch.

"What was Argyle like?" Sunshine asks. Dashwood grins as if thinking of a fond memory.

"Argyle was my man-servant! That's just a fancy word for 'the guy who saves my sorry skin on a regular occasion."

"Sounds familiar," she says, shooting Charon a grin. He rolls his eyes, and pretends to cough to hide his smile.

"He'd been around since before the war. We met when I stole his girlfriend, back in '41. We'd been best friends ever since. We got separated a long time ago, and I've never been able to find him," Dashwood says, his voice sad and so quiet it sounds far away. "I know he is out there somewhere. If you find him, will you tell me?" Sunshine nods, looking over at Charon. He takes a drink of his scotch, and watches her with hooded eyes. Dashwood turns his attention to him, and the two begin talking about things long past.

"Do you remember when I got voted 'Honorary Ghoul' in Underworld?" Dashwood asks. Charon grins.

"Yeah. Back in '54, wasn't it?" Sunshine smiles, and keeps watching Charon. He holds himself up straight, and he is smiling more than she can remember while talking to Dashwood. He laughs and teases her and offers to sneak her some scotch, which she politely declines. Burke is someone she'd rather have on her side than against her. However, she isn't proud of her behavior, and upset that it seems to bother Charon so much. She takes a deep, steady breath. She'll convince Burke to call off his pet Talons, and then she can hopefully avoid him for the rest of her life.

Dashwood yawns widely, and chuckles sheepishly.

"Looks like this old man needs to get some rest," he says almost apologetically, standing to show them out. He clasps Charon on the elbow, and Charon clasps his shoulder in return. "Thank you for taking the time to visit."

"It was good seeing you again," Charon says, sounding touched. Dashwood nods.

"Young lady, it was good to meet you!"

"Likewise, sir."

"Call me Daring," he says, winking. "Don't hesitate to come visit me anytime. Be careful on your adventures!"

"I will," she promises. "I have Charon to look after me." Charon snorts, and follows her out. She looks at the time on her Pip-Boy.

"I suppose I should get ready," she laments. Charon stiffens ever so slightly.

"Suppose so," he says tightly, trying to relax. "We might as well see the digs he gave you the key to." She nods, and they make their way to the penthouse suites. The other residents are not ad kind as Dashwood, and they point and whisper about Charon. The things they say don't bother Charon. He's had the time to get used to every insult they could think of. But Sunshine's brow furrows deeper and deeper the further they go, and the more she hears.

"I can't believe Gustavo let that zombie in," one of them mutters. "What is the world coming to when those things can mingle with civilized folk?"

"It looks hungry," another says uneasily. Charon bares his teeth, and barks a laugh when they jump.

"His name is Charon, and he's a person, not a zombie," Sunshine snaps, sick of their chatter. One of the residents snorts.

"That thing a _person? _Surely, you're kidding. Everyone knows those ghouls are nothing more than man-eating savages. However, I commend your intelligence for training it to follow you, like a pet! It would be charming if it were another dog."

"_He's not an animal!" _she hisses, her face turning red.

"Let it go, kid," he murmurs, touching her lightly on the shoulder. She looks up at him, a hopeless expression on her face.

"But-"

"You won't win. Let it go." She glares at the residents, and they turn to leave. Something hard hits Charon in the back of the head, and he grunts in pain. A single mutfruit rolls past his feet.

"Fetch, boy!" one of them says sardonically, and they both laugh. A deep growl rumbles in Sunshine's throat, and she throws herself at them. Charon easily catches her around the waist, the girl a set of flying limbs and obscenities. The residents stalk off.

"Don't get too worked up," he says against her hair. "It's what they want."

"But they-!"

"I know what they did. Let it go." She looks up at him, and gingerly touches the back of his head.

"You okay?" Her fingers are warm and pleasant, firm against what is left of his skin. He leans down for her to be able to touch better, and breathes,

"Yeah." They stand there, his arm now draped loosely around her waist, and her hands slowly making their way from the back of his head to his face. Her fingers tickle as they gently find their way around the ruined crevices of his face, but he doesn't feel uncomfortable underneath her scrutiny.

He feels natural.

She seems to come out of whatever trance she is in as her fingers lazily trace his lips. Embarrassed, she coughs and steps away from him.

"We'd better go," she says. He nods, and follows her to the penthouse suite.

The digs are nicer than anything he's seen since before the war. There is a Mr. Handy floating aimlessly in the corner, and a bed with sheets on it, much to Sunshine's delight.

"Sheets!" she exclaims, running her hand over the soft fabric. Her eyes catch the entrance to a bathroom, and she rushes in. There is a single tub, and a shower, and she turns on the water to find it scalding hot. She smiles, and asks,

"Do you want the first bath?" He shakes his head, and she bounces excitedly, like a small child. He smiles despite himself, and leaves the bathroom to look around. There are two intact wardrobes against the wall, and he opens them to find them full of beautiful clothes. Dresses of every color and hats to match fill them almost full, and a sick feeling washes over him. _He had all of this waiting for her._ He touches one of the dresses, sliding the soft material through his fingers, and on impulse imagines what she would look like in it. He looks over at the robot, who greets him. He looks back to the bathroom to see he left the door slightly ajar.

He doesn't mean to, really. He had planned to just shut the door and wait for her. But he catches a glimpse of her through the small opening, and it freezes him in place. She decided to take a shower, and he wishes she had chosen a bath so there would have been less for him to see. Her eyes are closed blissfully, and she just stands, letting the water pour over her in waves. The dirt and grime washes over her in streaks, leaving behind pale, bare, unbearably _smooth_ skin. She's a little wisp of a thing, and much more fragile looking than she appears when she is wearing her leather armor. He finds his throat dry as he traces the outline of her form with his eyes, and imagines what she would feel like underneath his hands. She turns, and he backs away, letting out a harsh, rattling breath through his teeth.

_Just a kid,_ he repeats in his mind. Even if she plays the black widow well, (which is a discovery he isn't very happy with), at her heart, she is just a kid. Barely a fraction of the age he is, and a way of looking at things with a wide-eyed innocence he thought got blown to hell with the rest of the world.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, you old pervert," he grumbles, and sits on the bed to wait for her, ignoring the stab of desire that rushes through him.

Sunshine stands underneath the showerhead happily, using entirely more soap than she needed. The flowery fragrance fills her nose, and she doesn't think she's ever smelled anything more pleasant. She washes herself thoroughly, happy to see the weeks of wasteland dirt wash down the drain. She leaves the shower reluctantly to save some hot water for Charon, and dries herself off. She eyes her dirty, tattered armor lying in a heap on the floor, and decides to shrug into her Vault suit. She enters the bedroom to find Charon sitting rigidly on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I'd give my right arm for hot water in Megaton," she says. "Saved you some."

"Thanks, kid," he says, and she notices the open wardrobe.

"What's this?" she asks, moving towards it.

"Clothes," Charon grunts. She gives him an excited look to match his uneasy one before pulling out one of the dresses.

"I wonder who owned this room before we came here," she says. "The lady sure had style." He nods numbly as she twirls it, like the dress in Rivet City, and moves to the bathroom to change. He eyes the door to the balcony and stand. He knocks on the door, ignoring the way the door latch pops open.

"I'm going out for a smoke, kid," he says, swallowing past the dryness in his throat.

"Ok! Don't rot your lungs," she teases. He nods, and flees toward the balcony. He brings the cigarette toward his mouth, and lights it with a shaky hand. She had picked out the dress he had imagined her in, and he doesn't want to see her in it.

He doesn't know how much more of this he can take. He wants to be back out in the wasteland with her, just the two of them and Dogmeat. Things were simpler. He had a better time of pushing down these feelings and pretending they didn't exist. He just wanted her meeting with Burke to be over so they could go back traveling, and he could pretend that wasn't aroused by a kid whose nineteen years of life was just a fraction of the length of his.

Sunshine pulls off the Vault suit, and excitedly tugs the dress over her head. Living in the Vault had limited her choice of clothing, and out in the wasteland was little better. The dress is a light and dusty pink, and the softest thing she has ever felt. She holds back a squeal as she spins, watching the skirt fly up. She looks at herself in the mirror, and strikes a pose, hands holding her skirt like she is trying to keep it from blowing away. She'd seen a picture once of a gorgeous woman in a dress standing like that over what appeared to be an air vent, and she had never been able to get it out of her mind. She straightens, and pushes her breasts together in an effort to make them look bigger.

She'd always been terribly self-conscious of her appearance, and even more so when around Amata. Amata had been curvy and busty where Sunshine had been bony and flat. She exhales, blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes and making a face. No use in gawking at herself. She'd better hurry and meet Burke. Tenpenny Tower is a nice building, but the residents make her wish she were out again in the wasteland. Traveling with Charon helped make her more accustomed to the wasteland, and she missed when it was just the two of them.

_Stalwart ghoul man-servant, _she thinks with a smile. _And my best friend. _

She exits just as Charon comes back in, and she hears his sharp intake of breath. Awkwardly, she brushes her hair back behind her ear.

"I don't look stupid, do I?" He stares at her as if in a daze, and his milky blue eyes linger over her form.

"No," he murmurs. "You don't look stupid at all." She laughs nervously, and kicks her foot against the tile floor, focusing on the way her toes brush against it.

"I guess I better get ready," she says lamely. He nods, and steps out of her away as she chooses a hat to wear.

"You don't have to do this," he says as she puts a large, floppy bonnet on her head. "I can protect you from Talon mercs, and anything else that might come after you." She ties the ribbon underneath her chin, and shakes her head.

"You almost died," she says, unable to get her voice above a whisper. "You almost died, and it's my fault." She pats his arm. "You may be my bodyguard, but I have a duty to keep you safe. You can't help me find my dad if you're dead. So stay here, and enjoy yourself. I'll be back soon." He nods, keeping a scowl from lips.

"Fine," he says. "You are my employer, and I will do as instructed." His voice sounds dull and hollow, and it makes her cringe. She turns to leave, and he grabs her shoulder. "Be careful, kid. You scream like hell if he does anything untoward. You cause a hell of a commotion and make someone notice." She nods, her hand reaching up to clasp his. She gives his fingers a firm squeeze, and tries not to panic as she lets them go.

Like it or not, she had a date with the devil tonight.


	15. A Dangerous Game

Chapter Fifteen: A Dangerous Game

Sunshine enters The Federalist Longue, and all the chatter seems to stop as soon as she enters the room. The residents stare at her with wide, distrusting eyes, and she straightens her posture. All she wanted to do was turn and walk out, but she had an appearance to keep up. She pulls her lips back into a sneer, and spots Burke waving her over, just as he did in Megaton. She saunters over, and sits down in the seat across from him, pulling up her skirt to show just the right amount of leg. _I feel like a harlot, _she thinks as Burke's eyes are immediately drawn to her bare skin.

"So, darlin'," she drawls, like a femme fatal in an Old World holotape. "What kind of deal are we making?" Burke clears his throat, and motions a protectron over to them.

"Two glasses of scotch, Shakes," he says, and she fights a wave of panic. She usually abstains from alcohol because she can't hold her liquor. During her last birthday in the Vault Amata had procured some alcohol from her father's secret stash. The two of them awoke the next morning, surrounded by Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and teddy bears with awful hangovers and the disapproving looks of their fathers. She had abstained ever since.

"Well," she says, awkwardly accepting the drink. "You certainly know how to treat a girl. What's the catch?"

"No catch, my dear girl. I simply wish to enjoy your company before we begin our business. Cheers," he says, lifting his glass. She clinks hers against his, and wets her lips with the alcohol. She hopes he doesn't notice her not drinking it. She sets her glass down, noticing that his is considerably emptier than hers, and smiles winningly.

"Business, you say? Well then. Let's get to it." He raises an eyebrow, and she feels his hand grasp her knee underneath the table. God, this isn't like her at all. "What're you thinking?"

"I'm thinking I'm looking at a beautiful woman who knows how to handle herself, and that her skills can be useful in ridding Tenpenny of another problem. That is, if she's willing to not stab me in the back again." She waves her hand dismissively.

"Always so dramatic. What's this problem you want me to get rid of?" She shifts uncomfortably, subtly moving his hand from her knee. He smiles, taking another drink of his scotch. He opens his mouth to answer her, but another voice rings out first.

"Burke! I need to talk to you," an angry, feminine voice rings out. Burke makes a face.

"Hell and damnation," he mutters. Sunshine grins.

"Well, aren't you the lady killer!" He smiles almost lopsidedly before standing. His hand pats her shoulder as he walks by. She turns to make sure he is occupied and, seeing him converse with a woman wearing nothing more than a flimsy nightgown, dumps most of her scotch in his glass. When he walks back, looking fairly smug, his eyes light up when he sees how empty her glass is.

She doesn't know how she does it, but she even manages to smile back as he downs the contents of her drink.

"So, who was that? Someone I need to be jealous of?" He laughs, full and genuine.

"Not at all my dear girl! Just some harlot that has taken up residence here." He calls the protectron bartender over to refill their glasses, and she shifts.

"Back to this favor," she prompts as their drinks arrive. He nods, his face flush with drink, and he leans forward, as if telling her a great secret.

"You're a strong, sure girl," he says. "Capable." He licks his lips to wet them. "I need someone who is capable."

"Capable of what?" she asks unsurely. She moves to lean back from him, and his hand snakes around to hold the back of her head.

"Of whatever I need you to be capable of, songbird," he says. Her eyes scan the longue to see it empty, the other patrons having since gone. Sunshine, Burke, and Shakes are the only ones left. She swallows, trying to say something, anything, to hide her unease, but the words have left her throat.

_This isn't good, _she thinks desperately.

* * *

_This is Brahmin shit, _Charon thinks, moodily staring up at the ceiling. He lies on the bed, arms behind his head. He should be with her, not waiting here like some jealous husband.

But he finds that he is jealous, and that realization bothers him.

He sighs, turning his head to look over at the empty spot on the bed next to him. A spot that he would prefer to be filled. He shakes his head and turns, stroking the sheets with his hand. They are cool and stiff to the touch, and a fine layer of dust is kicked up from his caress. _Looks like this room has been set up for a long time. _His eyes drift over to look in the bathroom, where her worn and tattered armor lies crumpled in a heap, and thinks unwillingly of the dress she left him in. His teeth bare in a snarl.

_Brahmin shit, _he thinks again, standing up to grab his shotgun leaning against the wall. He's going after her, contract be damned-

_So stay here and enjoy yourself._ A sharp pain shoots through his entire being, and he drops the shotgun. He moans softly, clutching his head.

"D-damn it, no," he says. "You've worked on this. Just a stupid piece of paper, just a-" he takes another step forward, and the pain intensifies. He cries out, hitting the floor with a thud. Dogmeat whimpers, nuzzling his arm worriedly.

"I'm-I'm okay, mutt," Charon breathes out through gritted teeth. "Just fine. I'll be back. I'll-" he moves to stand, and his body is racked with another wave of pain.

_Stay here._

He moans pitifully, pulling himself back to the bed. The pain subsides slowly, and he is left panting, curled up next to the bed. He buries his face in the blanket, swearing. He tries to convince himself that she is in danger, because that would be the only way to circumvent the contract.

But he saw the way Burke looked at her. He wouldn't hurt her anymore than Charon would.

* * *

"You're getting a little handsy, Burke," she finally manages to choke out. _Oh God, let go of me._ His hand has moved from holding the back of her head to stroking her hair. Her hat has since fallen to the floor, and she doesn't dare move to get it. He smiles again, and she could have almost believed it to be genuine if it weren't for the slight tightening of his eyes. She gently rests her hand on his. "We need to be all business now, darling. You still haven't told me what you need me to do."

Those were the right words to say. Burke's face relaxes, and he pulls his hand away from her hair, albeit a little reluctantly. _This is a dangerous game I'm playing, _she thinks and wishes, not for the first time, that she had followed Charon's urgings and just headed back out into the wasteland. But an image of Charon, ragged and bloodied and near death, enters her mind, and she steels her resolve.

"There are some vagrants hiding in Warrington Metro Station," he says after a pregnant pause. "Ghouls that are trying to force their way into Tenpenny Tower. Gustavo has been unable to apprehend them. I need you to take care of them." The '_and I want you to kill them'_ was left unspoken. She leans back a little, stretching her arms and leans over to reach for her hat.

"What's the big deal?" she says. "If they want to live here, and they have the money to do so, why not let them?" The question is out of her mouth before she can stop it, and Burke's hand circles her wrist. His grip is strong and cold, and she tugs on her wrist. _Don't panic, _she says to herself. Burke is on his knees in front of her, her hat in one hand and her wrist in the other. She leans back in her chair to put some distance between them, and he leans in to follow her, almost lazily crawling up her form. Looking at his gaze, she can't help but feel like a molerat trapped by a radscorpion.

"You," he breathes, his breath hot against her cheek. "Really are something, aren't you? What do you suppose we do? Live together with beasts, as though they were equals? As though they were _friends_?"

"Yes," she finds herself answering. "That's exactly what I'm supposing." He blinks in surprise and that is followed by a deep laugh that makes her shudder with fear and something else.

"'Play nice', as though all of the world's ills could be resolved through friendship? The jig is up, darling. You're an innocent, and not at all the worldly woman I had first thought." Blind panic sets in, and it takes all of her strength to not jerk away from him and run. So she chooses her last recourse: words.

"Well, I can't play you, can I, lover? What's next? You dump me again and we go our separate ways, sans hitmen and bounties?" He sets her hat on the table, and leans unnervingly close to her. His hand ghosts up her thigh, past her fluttering stomach and heaving chest, to rest on her flushed cheek. His fingers feel alien, and she wants to pull them away. They don't belong there. _She _doesn't belong there, at Tenpenny Tower, with the decadence that hides the overwhelming sense of fear and the guns pointed at one's turned back.

"Not at all, songbird," he says, his lips a fraction of an inch from hers. They teasingly hang above hers, and she feels a sick dread in her stomach. She can feel the way his words caress her lips, and if he were any closer, he would be kissing her. "My God, not at all. It just serves to make you even more desirable." She opens her mouth to protest. He is right-the jig is up. Maybe she can talk her way out of this. But his moves just that fraction of an inch and his lips cover hers, smothering any protest. _Oh God, let me go. _His hands tighten on her, and the scent of his cologne invades her nose. He moans delightedly, slowly moving the strap on her shoulder down. Her hands brace against his chest, finding him immovable as a stone. _Please let me go. _His lips move from hers to feather kisses across her cheeks and down her neck.

"This isn't very professional," she tries, as a last resort. "What about our business?" He laughs, and she feels that blanket of unease cover her again, overwhelming even the sense of relief at the stilling of his hands.

"Our business is long since over, love."

"It isn't over, not with those hitmen still after me," she tries again. He hums against her skin, almost impatiently.

"Darling, I don't want to talk about other men right now. Not with you flushed and gorgeous and right in front of me for the taking." She looks around, and Charon's warning comes back to her. _You make someone notice, kid. _The only other entity in the bar was Shakes, and she doubted Charon would hear any ruckus she would be able to make.

"I'm a classy girl," she decides on saying, forming a plan to get back to her room, to get away. "You can't woo me with alcohol and promises of a romp in an uncomfortable barroom chair."

"Then what can I woo you with?" he asks, almost exasperated.

"Time. Time and taking the bounty off of my head. But you want a trade for that. I'll see what I can do about the ghouls." His lips curls, and he moves away from her. She says a silent prayer of thanks, and breathes a sigh of relief.

"And what? Convince us to play nice, like you and your pet monstrosity do?" She stiffens, an unprecedented anger welling up in her chest.

"His name is Charon, and it isn't hard for us to be friends. Ghouls _are _people, you know." Burke snorts, and holds his hand out for her to take.

"Better come along now, darling," he says, all business once more. "If you're going insist on doing things the hard and-might I add-terribly unlikely to be successful way, I'd better escort you back to your room." At her startled look, he smirks. "I am a classy man, to compliment your classy lady."

True to his word, Burke escorts her safely to her room. Her hand lingers on the door, and she awkwardly pauses, now that he knows she isn't the black widow she had pretended to be. His hand rests on the small of her back, rubbing circles in the fabric of her dress almost affectionately.

"Well," she says. What is she supposed to say? 'Thank you for the drinks I didn't drink? Sorry I tricked you into not blowing up a settlement of innocent people?'

"Well, indeed," he says, slightly amused.

"I guess I'd better get some sleep. I've got a busy day tomorrow," she decides on, albeit a little awkwardly.

"Of course," he says.

"Well then. Goodnight," she says rather quickly, turning to go into her room. He turns her, her hand pulling away from the doorknob, and her back lands against the door. His eyes smolder, and he leans in to kiss her again. She stiffens, moving back only to find there is nowhere for her to go. His lips linger above hers before descending, and he murmurs,

"Just a kiss goodnight, love." She nods slowly, and squeaks,

"Just one." He laughs, and kisses her like a gentleman, his hands never straying from her shoulders. His lips feel firm. _Wrong, _she thinks. When he pulls away, he presses another kiss to her cheek.

"Good night, darling," he says. She stutters another goodnight, and flees back into her room, locking the door behind her. She half expects Burke to try and follow her in, but she simply hears that same unnerving laugh before hearing his footsteps retreat. She breaths out a deep, long sigh before slumping against the door.

She isn't used to this.

Back in the Vault, she had only ever been kissed one time in her life, and she discovered that it hadn't been all rainbows and fireworks like all the books she had read said it would be. Paul Hannon Jr. had pulled her aside, dressed in his Tunnel Snakes jacket, when she was sneaking back to her room from the restricted section of the library. He had stuttered through a confession of liking her, and leaned in to kiss her. He bumped her nose, their teeth clanked together, and he had needed to brush his teeth. It was sweet, but lacked that luster all those novels had talked about. He'd run off before she could say anything, and went back to tormenting her alongside Butch the next day.

She had been almost relieved in a way.

She runs a shaky hand through her hair. Exhaustion seems to hit her all at once, and she finds that she can barely stand. Shem walks further into the room to see Charon sprawled across the bed, Dogmeat sleeping next to him. Charon is asleep, but his face is contorted in a grimace. His breathing is ragged, and his body is stiff. He looks like he is in pain. She kicks off her shoes, dropping her hat next to them, and crawls across the bed next to him.

"Charon?" she says softly. "Charon, I'm back." He grunts, shifting over to face her. One eye blurrily opens to look at her.

"So you are. Huh. Here I thought I was dreaming."

"I told you I would be okay."

"Yeah, but I wasn't sure if you would come back." His voice sounds weary, lacking any of the bite his words demanded. She tries not to wince. "So, what'd he want?"

"There are some people trying to get into Tenpenny Tower he wants me to get rid of, and then he'll remove the bounty from my head. I'm going to try to convince everyone to live together. There's plenty of room in this monster of a building," she answers. He snorts.

"You can't force everyone to play nice, kid. People are assholes," he says.

"Present company excluded, of course," she says.

"Present company especially," he replies. After a pause, he says, "I'm glad you're back."

"I'm glad to be back." He nods, sitting up.

"I'll let you rest."

"You don't have to move," she says. He freezes, and under his breath, so quietly she isn't sure she heard him at all, says,

"You don't know what you're asking, kid."

"I'm asking you not to leave," she answers, exhaustion weighing down her bones as the fear and adrenaline leaves her. "You don't have to stay all night. Just for a while. You're the only person in this goddamned wasteland who doesn't want anything from me." Charon looks at her, noticing how small her voice sounds. How small she looks, with her shoulders hunched together and sad eyes showing how little she really knows of the human capacity for want. He nods, despite his every thought screaming that it was a bad idea, and he should just leave her.

Because he does want something from her, something he is too ashamed to name. But not something he would ever take for himself or accept if given. Not from her. _Not from her. _

"All right, kid," he says, swallowing past the thickness that has taken residence up in his throat. "Just this once. Don't hog all of the blankets." She nods, relieved, and lies down. He lies down beside her, and she snuggles close to him, using his shoulder as a pillow. He can smell the soap she used to clean herself, and he closes his eyes.

"Sorry I'm being a baby," she murmurs against his armor. He chuckles, stroking her hair.

"Go to sleep, kid. I'll be here." She nods, yawing, and he listens to her breathing as she falls asleep. He looks at her face, reaching up to brush her hair from her cheek. "But goddamn, are you young," he breathes.

* * *

Augh, I feel like this chapter took forever to get posted. Apologies, everyone! Uni has started back up again, so things may take a little more time. As always, thank you for reading. I'm glad you enjoy this. :D


	16. Sunshine and Rainbows

Chapter Sixteen: Sunshine and Rainbows

He hadn't meant to fall asleep. He had just shut his eyes to relish her scent and the feel of her warm against him. But minutes turned into hours, and he had slept the sleep of the immensely contented.

The skirt of her dress has rolled up to the middle of her thighs, showing off toned, bare legs. His throat goes dry, and his hand aches from the strain of not reaching out to touch them, to feel that soft, smooth skin for himself. The sunlight drifts in through the curtains, dancing over her sleeping form, and he wants to reach out to catch those fluttering spots of light and trace them over the fragile expanse of her body.

Instead, he disentangles himself from her firm grasp, and gets out of bed. She stirs, moaning softly as she shifts and stretches. The skirt of her dress inches higher. He turns away to escape to the balcony for a much needed cigarette.

When he returns, she is still sleeping, and he moves into the bathroom. He's in desperate need of a bath that doesn't involve being dunked in the Potomac river, and he remembers Sunshine's pleasure at the hot water. It's a pleasure that he shares when he finally steps under the spout of scalding water, naked as the day he was transformed.

The water feels good, real good. Almost too good. Sinful, like the thoughts he'd been having lately. An image of a dusty pink dress, pushed up over narrow hips, exposing lean legs that are being exposed to sunlight for the first time in a short life. A soft, pink mouth exposed in an 'O' shape, and green eyes fluttering behind thick lashes. He trails his hands down his ruined body, imagining her smaller ones in their place. He growls softly, his every nerve ending on fire despite the water rolling over him in clean drops.

This is wrong on so many levels, but better to indulge now than be bothered with it later.

His head leans forward to lean against the tiles. They're a soft green, like her eyes. He groans, his hands fidgeting over his skin. He's acting like a skittish teenager, fearful of being caught. He bites back a groan. _Getting caught. Sunshine has woken up, and drowsily rolls out of isn't very perceptive when she first wakes up, so she doesn't hear the water running. Charon is busy indulging himself, and doesn't hear the door open. _He lets out a deep moan despite himself. _The shower curtain opens, and there he stands, fully erect and unabashedly unashamed._

_ "For me?" she asks, shooting him an amused look. "Really, you shouldn't have." His hands land on her shoulders to peel her dress away from her skin, and he slides his hands over her eagerly. She hums in pleasure, stepping out of the dress and into the shower with him._

_ "You know me. I'm a giver," he rasps as she sinks to her knees…_

He bites down on his free hand, pulling himself over the edge. Wrong. Wrong on so many levels. Wrong for her. She wouldn't be so experienced, so eager. _Or would she? _a nagging voice in the back of his mind shakes his head to clear his thoughts, and finishes cleaning himself up. He steps out of the shower, almost reluctant to leave the warmth, and pulls on his pants.

She's still sleeping when he reenters the room, drying himself off with a towel. He gently reaches over to pull that damned skirt over her legs, but she doesn't stay still. Sunshine grumbles in her sleep, rolling over and flashing her backside. He averts his eyes from her underwear, and reaches over to wake her.

"Kid," he grunts. She shifts, her legs brushing against his knuckles. He idly rubs circles on her skin before snapping out of it. "Kid, wake up."

"No," she says petulantly. "I like this bed." He laughs before sternly saying,

"You have business to attend to, Miss 101."

"No," she says again, burying her face in the pillow. "I don't know what business it is you speak of. All I know is that this bed is comfy and I don't wanna get up." He pulls the pillow out from under her, and she yelps as he hits her with it.

"Up and at 'em, kid. Let's get this over with." She sits up, hitting him in the face with the other pillow. He makes a sound of mock outrage, trying to tug the pillow from her grasp. She shakes her head, hitting him with it again, and he lets out a playful growl before hitting her with his pillow. She squeals in delight, grabbing his pillow and rolling away from him. He follows her, and she laughs, kicking her legs.

He's leaning over her, and holding himself up on shaky arms. He can feel her breathing underneath him, her face flushed. He can feel the soft fabric of her dress pressed up against his bare chest, and the feeling sends lightning bolts dancing down what is left of his skin. Her bare legs are tangle with his leather clad ones. He shudders._ So much for keeping my distance. _He doesn't know how he manages to do so, but he finds his voice.

"We have to get out of bed," he says, pulling himself away from her and furthering the distance between them. She can feel the cold air in his absence, and feel the distance he tries to put between them.

"Tyrant," she mutters, in an effort to joke, rolling out of bed. The skirt falls over her legs to hang around her knees. She picks up her plasma rifle from where it is leaning against the wall. "I guess we'd better get going."

"You're not taking that, are you?" he asks dryly, pulling on a shirt.

"Why not? Out of all the weapons I have, it's in the best condition."

"You don't even know how to shoot that thing if your enemy isn't at point blank range," he answers. Smiling at her indignant 'hmph', he says, "Come on. I'll teach you how to shoot."

* * *

"This feels wrong, somehow," she says, motioning over the ruins of Warrington Train Station, where feral ghouls haunt the spaces in between the wrecked trains. Charon had set them up a spot on top of one of the ancient box cars. He looks over at her. She's still wearing that damned dress because her armor had fallen apart when she'd tried to put it on. "Using them for target practice."

"They're feral, kid," he says, loading his shotgun. "Little more than raving beasts. They'd eat you sooner than look at you." He motions for her to crouch down, and she does. "See how I'm holding my gun?" She nods. "I want you to mimic that." She tries, but he can already spot the errors. He shakes his head.

"You're holding it too tightly. The recoil will break your shoulder. Loosen up." She does, and the placement of her hands is still wrong. She shoots the gun, and misses her mark by a mile. Her face lights up with fear as the feral ghouls take notice of the shot, but not being able to trace it back to her. He sets his gun down to move closer to her.

"Here," he breaths, taking her hands in his. His larger hands overshadow hers, hiding the smooth skin beneath his ruined skin. He gently arranges her fingers the way he wants them, and says by her ear, "Try it now." He tries to ignore the way she shudders against him, and he guides her hand to aim at her target. She pulls the trigger, and a feral ghoul falls apart in a pile of glowing green goo. "Good."

Sunshine grins at the praise, leaning back into him.

"You're the one who aimed it. All I did was pull the trigger." Her head rests on his shoulder, and she looks up at him. She traces the expanse of broken skin from his neck to his chin with her eyes, and imagines kissing her way up to his lips. Her lips are close enough. All she would have to do is lean in a little. She shakes her head slightly at the thought when he looks down at her, and turns her eyes back to the metro station. _There's no way he thinks of me like that, _she thinks. _Burke's ruined me. Here I am thinking I kiss anyone I want without repercussion, like he does. _

"We'd better get going," she says, reluctantly pulling herself from his grasp. He coughs, picking up his forgotten shotgun. He nods, taking out the feral ghouls that still linger, and they make their way to the metro.

* * *

"Ugh," Sunshine says as she shoots at an oncoming feral ghoul and misses. Charon smirks, taking it out with his shotgun. "I really fucking hate metros."

"Don't beat around the bush, kid," Charon says, reloading his shotgun. "Tell me how you feel." She makes a face, and they continue on.

"How much farther do you think they are?"

"Honestly, I think Burke was pulling your chain. I don't think there is anything down here other than ferals," he says bitterly.

"Guess again," a voice from above them says, followed by the cocking of a gun. Charon swears, aiming his shotgun at the ghoul who spoke. "Put away your weapons. No funny business, or I'll start shooting," he warns. Sunshine nods, holstering her rifle and Charon, grumbling, does the same.

"What do you want, smoothskin?" the ghoul asks. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to try and get you guys into Tenpenny Tower," she answers cheerfully. "I think I can convince the residents to let you in." The ghoul snorts, but lowers his pistol.

"I don't know how you're gonna do that, but life ain't all sunshine and rainbows, kid. You'd better go talk to Roy. I'll take you to him. Hands where I can see 'em," he says wearily, motioning for them to follow him. Sunshine raises her hands above her head and, scowling, Charon does the same.

"Stop scowling," she whispers, nudging him. "You're gonna make a bad impression."

"This is a bad idea," he answers.

"So, what're you doing with a ghoul, kid?" the ghoul leading them asks.

"This is Charon. He's my bodyguard," she answers readily, and Charon bites back a groan. The ghoul leading them smiles a small smile, and says,

"Oh yeah? Bodyguard, huh? And what's your name, sunshine?"

"Sunshine," she answers cheerfully. He snorts, and says,

"Michael. Michael Masters. She's a little dense, isn't she?" Sunshine pouts.

"A good kid," Charon answers. "Hell bent on changing the world, which is stupid. But a good kid." _A kid that I'll murder all of you over if you so much as harm a hair on her head._ Masters seems to get the meaning behind Charon's words, and defers to him by putting away his gun. They enter a dank living area, which was probably once used to house maintenance workers, and see the ghoul from when they first reached Tenpenny Tower taking a vicious bite out of an iguana on a stick. The ghoul woman next to him eyes Sunshine warily, and the man demands,

"Masters! Who is the smoothskin?" The way 'smoothskin' rolls off of his tongue speaks of distaste and an intense hatred, even while he eyes her. She puts on her best smile, and Masters answers,

"Said she's from Tenpenny Tower. Says she can talk them into letting us in, or some such bullshit." Roy 'harumphs', and the woman inches closer to Sunshine.

"I like your dress," she says quietly. Sunshine can see she is wearing the exact same kind of dress, only more torn and dirty, like she'd been wearing it since the bombs fell. Remembering the wardrobe full of dresses that Burke had left her, she smiles.

"I have lots. I could bring some for you, if you'd like?" The woman's eyes narrow.

"What for?" she demands.

"For you to wear. To have," Sunshine answers, much to the other ghoul's astonishment. She wouldn't tell Burke. It'd be a secret. "You like them, and I have too many to ever wear." She looks over to the other ghoul, the leader, and asks timidly,

"Can I, Roy?" He laughs harshly, pushing away from the table and striding over to Sunshine. He catches her by the chin harshly, and Charon's shotgun is in his hands. Masters pulls his pistol back out, and Roy says,

"You won't shoot. Not if you don't want this little smoothskin strung up outside by her pretty little entrails." Charon growls. To Sunshine, he says, "What's your agenda?"

"I want to get you into Tenpenny Tower," she answers. "I'm positive I could talk the other residents into letting you in."

"Why?" She looks at him questioningly.

"So you don't have to live down here. There's plenty of room there." He laughs that same harsh laugh again.

"So we'll all gonna be friends, is that it? No. The only way we're going to live there is if we take it." The violence promised in his eyes is unnerving, and Sunshine shakes her head.

"I _can _get you in. You don't have to kill anyone. There are a couple of people who'd be thrilled to have you. Like Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood," she offers. Roy looks at her like she's speaking gibberish.

"You crack me up, smoothskin. All right. You try it your way. Then, when all of your hopes and feelings are shattered, we'll do it mine." He releases her, and it takes all of her willpower to not rub her chin. She moves closer to Charon. Roy eyes Charon, and asks,

"Why do you travel with this ghoul? You fuckin' him, smoothskin?" She flushes furiously, and Charon tenses.

"He's her bodyguard," Masters answers, shooting them a sympathetic look. Roy chuckles, and goes back to his seat. The woman comes up to Sunshine, and says,

"Sorry about him. He isn't all rough and tumble." Sunshine forces a grin.

"It's all right."

"Did you really mean it about those dresses?" she asks excitedly. Sunshine smiles with sincerity this time.

"Sure did!"

"I'm Bessie Lynn," she introduces herself shyly, now that Roy has given them the all clear.

"Sunshine, and he's Charon." Charon grunts, still tense and not at all interested in making small talk.

"You know, Roy isn't really a bad guy," Bessie Lynn says. _Could've fooled me, _Sunshine thinks, but she allows the other woman to speak. "I used to be pretty, you know. Like you. Now," she says, gesturing helplessly to herself. Sunshine opens her mouth to speak, but the protests of '_No, you really are pretty!' _die on her lips. However, the other woman smiles serenely, and says, "The way Roy looks at me makes me feel pretty again." Sunshine smiles, shooting a look at Roy. _Big softie. _

"We need to go," Charon murmurs in her ear, and she jumps at the unexpected contact. "This place is not safe." She nods, and says,

"Yeah. We should get back to Tenpenny Tower and start stirring up trouble."


	17. It Isn't In Me

Chapter Seventeen: It Isn't In Me

The shattering of glass next to Sunshine's head is deafening. She has to move to avoid getting shards of it in her eyes. Through her lashes, she sees Charon tensely glaring at Lydia Montenegro. She had ordered him not to attack, and he can see the strain of not coming to her aid in the pulsing veins of his temples. Dogmeat growls and it takes all of Charon's composure to not growl with him.

"You ghastly little beast! How _dare _you! Get out! _Get out!_" She nods, and ducks out of the shop as another glass is thrown her way. A shard of it dances across her cheek, and she can feel the hot blood cascade over her skin. Charon, jaw clenched, follows her out.

"I don't like this," Charon says softly, reaching out to touch the cut across her cheek. "It isn't in me to sit by and watch you get hurt, kid."

"It's okay," she says with a smile, and his heart constricts. It _isn't _okay. "They're just scared, Charon. Change doesn't come easily, and they haven't ever met an actual ghoul."

"They're bigots," he says. "Fear doesn't have anything to do with it. They just hate others that aren't like them." He wipes the blood from her cheek, and cups her face in his large hand. "Like me. Like you." She shakes her head.

"I was terrified when I met Gob," she says. "I remember the fear and revulsion I felt. But I talked to him, and we became fast friends." He snorts.

"I don't think Roy Phillips could be friends with anyone."

"He's just been hurt a lot. I'm sure once he meets the residents, like Mr. Dashwood, he'll understand that not all of us are so filled with hate." Charon shakes his head, and says,

"Hate comes from all sides, kid. It isn't something you can change." Her eyes flash, and he can see a hopeful determination in them that makes his stomach churn.

"Let's keep going," she finally says. "We can talk to some more people, and come back to Ms. Montenegro after she's calmed down."

_ Stupid kid is gonna get herself killed, _he thinks. Hell. It's a good thing he's as good at his job as he is.

Up next is Susan Lancaster, the woman she saw conversing with Burke a couple of nights ago. The woman bristles as Sunshine and Charon approach.

"You're Burke's new pet," she says. "What do you want?" Sunshine puts on her best smile, and says,

"I'm here to talk to you about letting some new residents in."

"Those ghouls? Not interested," she eyes, shooting a seething look at Charon. Charon's expression doesn't change, and she harrumps. "Those filthy creatures can rot in their dirty hovel, your friend included."

"No need to be so hostile," Sunshine tries to keep her voice smooth and easy, but there is a tension because of the insult to Charon that she can't loosen. "They're really very friendly." _Well, two thirds of them anyway. _"Besides, it isn't like you'd be letting in a whole town. There's only three of them down there."

"And you're going around trying to convince everyone to play nice, right?" she asks, shooting her a hateful look. "No. I worked hard for this and I won't tolerate any monsters being let in for free just because Burke's new whore is some zombie-fucking miscreant." Charon inhales sharply, and Sunshine places a hand on his arm to calm him.

"There is plenty of room here," she says and her voice is nothing more than an angry whisper. "_Plenty of room. _You probably wouldn't even have to see them on a regular basis."

"I worked for this," Susan snarls. "I _worked _for this, on my hands and knees, and no one is going to take that away from me. You want to fuck zombies? _Fine. _But this is my home. Mine. I won't let you ruin it just because Burke thinks you're something special."

"Change is coming," Sunshine says and her back is tense against Charon's chest. "It's just something you're going to have to accept." Susan's hand lifts up to slap her, and it's all Charon can do to keep his hands from the woman's throat. Dogmeat bristles and the girl's hand gently pats the top of his head. Sunshine doesn't flinch when the woman's hand makes contact, instead murmuring a soft,

"Let's go." He follows her out, breathing in and out, and looks at the hard expression on her face soften to one of miserable disbelief. The wound on her cheek has started bleeding again. Dogmeat stands on his back legs, his front paws at her shoulders and licks her cheek. She smiles, ruffling his fur before gently pulling the dog off of her. They enter the elevator and ride it all the way up to the suites level, Charon keeping himself from reaching for her.

"They have so much here," she says. "And they aren't willing to share just because the people who want in are ghouls. How can they be so selfish?" Charon shrugs.

"That's just how people are. They don't care about anyone other than them and theirs. Like us." Sunshine takes a step back, exiting the elevator as the doors open.

"We aren't anything like them," she says.

"We only watch out for each other," he says, leaning in close to her. "Or at least until you run off trying to help everyone and leave me behind."

"What am I supposed to do?" Sunshine demands, and he thinks this may be the first time he's seen her genuinely angry at him. The two of them are close now, dangerously so, and he can feel her hot breath ghosting past his cheek.

"You leave and ignore it. You keep yourself _alive," _he stresses. "Pulling stunts like this will only end badly for you. I'm surprised they haven't fired up a lynch mob to come after you."

"I can't refuse to try and help," she says, her voice echoing off of the walls in the hallway. "It isn't in me." She's so close now, panting and warm with anger. So very, very idealistic in the way only the young can be. At their feet, Dogmeat whimpers.

"It's like those vaults, kid," Charon says. "They'll fight and die to protect what is theirs. They won't let anyone else in. All the human kindness in them got buried when those Vault doors closed." At her stricken expression, he remembers the Pip-Boy on her wrist and the 1-0-1 on the back of that Vault suit she protects like a child would a blanket. "Oh. Oh hell, kid-"

"No, it's okay," she says, even though it isn't. "People just want to be safe and shut out those who would threaten that safety. I guess the bombs wiped out the sentiment of human kindness in everyone. And all the Tenpenny residents could care less. All those privileged Vault dwellers could care less. No point in making friends if the wasteland is just going to devour them, right? "

"Kid, I didn't mean-" Charon starts, but is interrupted by a soft, self-deprecating laugh that bursts from Sunshine's mouth.

"I completely understand. There's no hope for us, right?" she says, running a hand through her hair. She turns to leave, and that closeness is broken. Charon reaches for her, but she shrugs off his hand.

"Sunshine," he says.

"Leave me alone, Charon," she says wearily. "That's an order."

The door to the suite slams shut behind her. She thinks briefly of locking it but leaves it be. She peels off the dress, disgusted with the very things she'd found so charming about it. She feels sick for home, and so slips the soft and faded jumpsuit on over her trembling form. She crawls into the bed, still haphazard from the previous night's sleep, and pulls the blanket over her head.

She thinks of home, Vault 101, and doesn't try to suppress the ache that follows the thought. She misses those plain silver walls and monotonous days of working with her father in the clinic where the only medical emergency was a stubbed toe. Whenever he ran tests on her he was always sure to teach her about how to be a doctor.

"_You've got to learn this stuff," _he had said. "_I'm not going to be around forever."_ How long had he been planning to leave? Somehow, she couldn't muster the strength to be angry anymore, only sad and weary.

She misses her father. She misses her home. There is no way they'd be so heartless as to leave homeless people to suffer and starve out in the wastes. Not Amata with her goofy smile, not Butch with his moments of weakness, not even the tyrannical Overseer-

And she knows that they would. That this was the very purpose the Vaults were made. No one ever enters, and no one ever leaves. That they only person who'd ever even bother to help anyone else was her father, and he was never really a Vault resident to begin with. Now he is out in the wastes trying to help the entire unforgiving wasteland and possibly dead somewhere for his effort.

She bursts into tears and cries herself into a fitful sleep, dreaming of a looming Tenpenny Tower devouring everything in its wake and a flooded Vault 101 where she is the only one who drowns and everyone sits idly by as her skin turns blue and the last of her breath is forced from her lungs.

Charon sits outside of the door to the suite with a whining Dogmeat, listening to the crying that eventually slows down to a ragged and fitful breathing. He sighs, resting his head against the hard wooden door and shuts his eyes.

"You okay there?" he hears a familiar voice ask. He opens one eye to see Dashwood leaning over him with a bottle of scotch in one hand and a Nuka Cola in the other. "I thought I'd bring the party to you two this time. I've heard how it's gone with the girl's pet project and thought she could use some cheering up." Charon smiles weakly and says,

"I think she just went to sleep. She's, uh, not very happy."

"Yeah, you never were good at keeping your mouth shut," Dashwood says. "It's why Argyle and I got all of the dames and you got left leaning against the wall with a sour look on you face the whole night long." Charon snorts and stands up. He takes the Nuka Cola from Dashwood and gingerly opens the door to the suite. He sees the dress crumpled in the corner of the floor and the bright yellow 1-0-1 against the mussed up blankets. He sets the cola on the nightstand next to the bed and scribbles out a note on some yellowing paper.

_With Dashwood. Have the mutt. Come see us when you wake up.-Charon_

He thinks of adding a 'sorry' as an afterthought, but thinks she'd react better hearing it rather than reading it. And, admittedly, he isn't ready to apologize yet. His hand strokes the top of her head almost affectionately, fingers curling in her hair and leaves her once she stops whimpering and trembling.

He nods and follows an amused looking Dashwood out, Dogmeat at their heels.

"I'd never peg you one for girl problems, Charon," Dashwood teases. Charon scowls and tells the other man in no uncertain terms to can it.

* * *

Sunshine wakes up a couple of hours later more tired than when she first fell asleep. She yawns widely and reaches across the bed to wake Charon only to touch cool sheets. She remembers their argument and her heart sinks a little. As she sits up she spots the Nuka Cola on the nightstand and reads the note next to it. She sets the note down and stands up, stretching her arms above her head and feeling her toes curl in the carpet. Her eyes catch the wardrobe to see the dresses glittering in the faint light the lamp offers. She looks back at the note and decides she'll go to Dashwood's after she sees Bessie Lynn.

Hopefully the dresses will be a good enough present to make up not being able to get them into Tenpenny Tower. She gathers up some dresses from the wardrobe and places them gently in her pack before slinging her rifle over her shoulder and picking up the Nuka Cola Charon left for her. She gets in the elevator and presses the button for the ground-level. She watches the floors drop past the one Dashwood lives on and almost misses the ding signaling the opening of the elevator. She walks out onto the ground floor and notices Gustavo isn't at his desk. She is secretly relieved she won't have to talk to him. He's unpleasant at the best of times and she's suspicious that he may be reporting her actions to Burke.

The night is hotter than usual today. Sunshine raises a hand in an effort to cool herself off and hurries to Warrington Metro station. She follows the path she and Charon took earlier in day, keeping an eye out for any stray ferals that they missed. She makes it to the maintenance wing without incident to find Bessie Lynn sitting at an unsteady table by herself. She looks sad and lonely and it is almost enough to break Sunshine's resolve.

"Hey," she says, setting the pack gently on the table in front of her. "I brought you those dresses." Bessie looks up at Sunshine and she sees that the woman looks worse for wear.

"Oh," she says distractedly. "Oh. Really?" Sunshine nods, opening the pack and watching as fabrics of different colors fall out across the grimy metal table. Bessie strokes some of the dresses and sighs almost sadly.

"You really brought these for me, didn't you?" she says miserably and gives something underneath the table a solid frustrated kick. "They're so pretty. Thank you."

"You're welcome! You don't like them?" Sunshine asks, worried about the sad demeanor Bessie exudes. The ghoul forces a grin.

"I love them. Really. Where's your friend?" Bessie fidgets, knocking one of the dresses off of the table. Sunshine bends down to pick it up for her.

"We're fighting," she says as her hands close over the fabric and she sees a glint of something strange underneath the table. The yellow of the Tenpenny security armor stands out against the dirty concrete floor.

"Oh really? That's too bad," Bessie says distractedly as Sunshine leans in to examine the ting underneath the table. Gustavo's lifeless eyes stare back at her almost accusingly. "You're a good kid. You deserve to be happy." Sunshine jerks back only to feel ruined hands wrap around her throat and mouth. A cloth is forced against her nose and she struggles, holding her breath.

"Shh, kid," Michael Masters' voice soothes. "Easy does it. It'll be over in a minute."


	18. So Very Very Done

Chapter Eighteen: So Very Very Done

_"Oh yeah? Well, daddy doctor ain't here to save you. What're you gonna do now, kid? Huh? What're you gonna do?"_

"I'm not going to do anything, Butch," Sunshine murmurs past the pounding in her head. "We're going to argue and fight and, once I've said something you deem unforgivable, you're going to pop me one and then leave me alone until the bruise heals because you can't stand the thought of hitting me because I'm a girl." She can see Butch's stricken face in her mind and braces herself for the slap that never lands. Because he didn't hit her. He murmured something unintelligible before stalking off to torment her another day. But she still hears his annoying voice.

"_Wake up, nosebleed."_

"No," she says. "You can't make me. You're not the boss of me."

"_Catherine, wake up!" _

"Don't call me that. You know better."

"_Wake up!" _ Just to silence his irritating voice, and to keep him from calling her by her real name, she opens her eyes to see the ruined face of Roy Phillips leering over her.

"There's our blazing sun," he breathes and it is all she can do to bite back a scream. He grins and it is devoid of any humor. She pushes herself up only to fall back against the hard floor. Her arms are bound tightly behind her back and she groans. Roy grabs her by the chin to lift her up. She's limp in his hands, head pounding and heart beating so hard she's afraid it'll burst out of her chest. She sees something metallic out of the corner of her eye and is terrified it is a knife.

"You see this, kid?" Roy says, running something cold and metal across her cheek. It comes into focus and she sees that it is a key. "That Gustavo prick came after us. Said he was tired of you trying to make us link hands and sing Kumbayah. He couldn't do anything to you so he came after us. Wouldn't you know it, but it turned out to be a stroke of good fortune. He had this key on him, see, and this key happens to be quite important to my plans. I was having trouble of thinking of a way to con you into getting it for me, although with your bleeding heart it probably wouldn't have been hard."

"What's it for?" she croaks past a dry throat. She can see Michael and Bessie hovering almost anxiously next to her.

"It opens the door to the generator room which leads to the metros." He turns her face to look at the window where an army of feral ghouls wait snarling and pounding against the glass. "We've invited a few friends."

"You're going to kill everyone!" Sunshine begins to struggle against Roy. "This isn't the way! Just give me more time-" His fingers tighten on her chin.

"No," he says dangerously. "Playtime is over. We're doing things my way." He drops her to the ground and addresses the ferals. "Are you hungry? I have the perfect appetizer!"

"Jesus Roy," Michael says, kneeling next to Sunshine to help her up. "She's just a kid."

"A smooth skin," Roy says angrily.

"A child," Michael intones firmly. "A child who did try to help us."

"You don't _have _to kill her, do you, Roy?" Bessie asks softly. Roy groans.

"Not you too, Bessie. Christ." He shoots a baleful look at Sunshine. "What good would she be if I kept her alive? The team pet? No. She dies here."

"She's already proven loyal to us," Michael tries again, but Roy cuts him off.

"You know how smoothskins can get." Leaning down to Sunshine, he says, "You see this as a betrayal, don't you?" When she doesn't answer, he shakes his head. "She'll get revenge on us if we keep her alive."

"Don't do this," she whispers. "I have friends up there." She thinks of Dashwood and Dogmeat and Charon and, yes, even Burke.

"All the more reason to put you down," he says, and she thinks he sounds almost regretful. "You have five minutes to say your goodbyes, and then I'm opening the door." Michael nods tensely and rubs Sunshine's thigh in a weak attempt to comfort either her or himself. Bessie begins crying and throws her arms around Sunshine.

"You're a good kid," Michael says, his fingers rubbing circles in the fabric of her vault suit as he avoids her eyes. "I'm sorry it turned out this way."

"Are you going to kill Charon?" she asks dully. He winces, not wanting to answer, before giving up with a sigh.

"If we can spare him, we will. If he lets us," he answers. "If there's anything left of you to find, and he sees it, well." His voice trails off. "He's pretty crazy about you."

"Only because he has to be," she says. "His contract won't let him act any differently." Michael's wasted eyebrows shoot up into his non-existent hairline.

"He's one of those experiments?" he asks. Sunshine nods although she has no idea what he is talking about. "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Two minutes," Roy calls. Michael scowls and stands up, leaving Bessie clinging to Sunshine.

"I'm sorry," she cries into Sunshine's hair. "I'm so so sorry."

"I'm not angry," she says. It is true-she isn't. The soul devouring fear she feels has left little room for anything else. "Don't cry. I don't blame you."

"You have so much of your life ahead of you, and we're taking that away," she sniffs. "You were nice to me. You gave me pretty dresses and look at how I repay you."

"Bessie," Sunshine starts, never expecting that she'd spend her last moments comforting someone else. But Bessie's eyes harden as Sunshine feels something pull on over her head.

"This is a ghoul mask," she says. "Don't get too close to the ferals or they'll smell you. Try not to get hurt or to cry because they'll come running. They're not very bright so this should protect you if you're careful." Sunshine can't really see anything. All that is visible is two tiny holes through the mask which she can see Bessie Lynn's determined expression.

"Time's up," Roy calls. "I'm opening the door." Bessie presses a kiss to her cheek and hugs her tightly. Sunshine's hands wrap around the knife Bessie leaves in her bound hands. Sunshine hears the door creak open and hears the haunting cries of ferals fill the room. Sunshine tenses as a hoard of them begin to run past her. She tries to slow her breathing down as some of them lean over to look at her. Seemingly confused, they move past her. She sees Roy walk past her, holding her rifle, and he laughs when he sees her mask. He ruffles the top of her head and she's afraid he is going to pull the mask from her face. But he leaves it alone and soon all she is left with are starving feral ghouls that make their way to Tenpenny Tower's lobby.

Sunshine carefully begins to cut away at her bonds, mindful of Bessie's warning. It feels like it takes an eternity to saw through them. By the time her hands are free her arms are numb and stiff from being so tightly bound. She rubs her wrists to get the blood flowing again and stands, armed with only Bessie's knife. She moves slowly because of the lack of visibility caused by the mask. She feels her way to the door to the lobby.

When she pushes it open, she sees hell on earth.

Feral ghouls devour the unfortunate residents that they had felled. Some of them are still screaming as they are being eaten. She can hear Roy's laughter echo eerily amongst the pandemonium. She clutches the knife in her hand like a talisman and begins to search for Charon. She doesn't dare call out his name for fear of attracting the ferals to her.

There are so many.

She hears a dog barking and makes her way toward the sound. Through the slits in her mask she can see Dogmeat cornered by two feral ghouls and all three of them are growling and snarling. She sneaks up behind one and, taking a deep breath, tackles it to the ground. It snarls and bites as she stabs it with all of her might. Blood gushes over her hands and soaks into the fabric of her vault suit. Soon the snarling dies down to a pitiful whimper and Sunshine works to kill it quickly by slitting its throat. Dogmeat takes out the one next to it and she breathes a sigh of relief.

"Dog-" she begins, but he growls at her. She holds her hand out for him to sniff and for a moment she is afraid he is going to bite it. He tentatively sniffs her hand before barking excitedly. He runs into her arms and she cries,

"Dogmeat!" She holds onto the dog for a long moment and she's sure it looks like she's eating him. She lets go of him to stand. "Where's Charon, boy?" Dogmeat barks and takes off running. It is all Sunshine can do to follow him. She trips over the haphazard limbs of dead bodies, both human and ghoul, in her haste to not lose Dogmeat. She hears Charon before she sees him.

"Where is she?" his voice demands dangerously. She hears a laugh that can only belong to Roy and hears the answering thud of a fist landing in a stomach. She turns to see Charon pinning Roy against a crumbling pillar, her rifle sprawled at the ghoul's feet.

"Where is she?" Charon demands again, his voice rising to a note of panic. Roy laughs again, blood pouring over his chin.

"Dead. Eaten. First causality. An appetizer, if you will." Roy's laughter turns to wheezing and she is sure he is bleeding internally by all of the blood that comes out of his mouth. "Sorry about your smoothskin fucktoy." The snarl Charon makes reminds her of the ferals that surround them and she can't tear her eyes away from the vicious way he rips out Roy's throat.

"Roy!" she hears Bessie Lynn sob and her eyes follow the sound to see Michael holding a wailing Bessie Lynn back. "Roy!" Charon drops Roy to the ground with an unfeeling thud and turns on the two of them.

"She trusted you," he says, his voice a dangerously quiet mix between a growl and a shout. "She tried to help you." Sunshine sees Michael tighten his hold on Bessie Lynn before giving a small nod to Charon. Charon stops to pick up her fallen rifle and he moves toward them, aiming it at them.

"Charon, no-!" she calls as something slams into her from behind.

"You dirty zombie!" she hears someone yell. The hard barrel of a gun is pressed against her temple. "This is for Johnny, you sorry son of a-" She hears the sound of her rifle firing and soon hot green goo rolls down her arms and face. A familiar hand pushes her on her back and she feels the ghoul mask being pulled from her face.

"I'm sorry," is out of her mouth before she can stop it and hot tears sting her eyes. A ghost of a smile breaks over Charon's face and he pulls her up. He wraps his arms around her and she bursts out sobbing before she can think any better of it.

"Charon, we've almost got all of the ferals cleared out," she hears Dashwood's voice say. "We've got to get you out of here. The residents are calling for the blood of ghouls." Charon nods. To Bessie Lynn and Michael, he says,

"You hear that?" Through her tears, she can see them nod. "That means you need to get out of here before either they kill you or I do."

The two of them move back toward the generator room. They stop at the door and Bessie calls,

"I'm glad you're alive! We're sorry for everything!"

"Go!" Charon growls and the two of them disappear through the door. Dashwood is at their side.

"You'd better follow them," he says. "I'll cover you." Charon nods and begins to lead Sunshine to the generator room, Dogmeat at their heels. They're almost there when they hear Dashwood cry out in pain and turn in time to see him on his knees with his head in his hands. Burke is surrounded by Tenpenny security with his pistol aimed at them.

_No, _Sunshine thinks. _It's aimed at Charon. _

"And just where do you think you're taking my songbird?"


	19. Man Up!

Chapter Nineteen: Man Up!

Sunshine is screaming, clawing at the guards and trying to fight her way to Charon.

"He didn't have anything to do with it! It was me, all me! They only did this because I tried so hard to help them! _He didn't do anything!_" They're beating Charon because he's trying just as hard to fight his way to her. "Charon!" She manages to grab the hand reaching out for her and they struggle to hold on to each other with no success. She's dragged back by a firm hand on the collar of her jumpsuit and she sees a disgruntled Burke holding onto her. His signature fedora is ripped and bloodied and she can see thin cracks in the lenses of his glasses.

"Now, darling," he says. "This is a dangerous animal. One that has to be put down."

"Burke, he's my friend," she says, the words spilling over her lips in an effort to convince him. "He didn't do anything. Let him go. I'll do anything you want. _Please._" Burke gives an almost indecipherable nod of his head and the guards of Tenpenny Tower raise their guns and aim them at Charon. She can hear Dashwood's voice, although he sounds far away and distorted. Shouting about how he is a resident of Tenpenny Tower and he has a say in this and _Good God, man, don't shoot! _Charon's eyes meet hers, and she mouths 'run'. He shakes his head and she mouths 'please'.

"Charon!" she screams as the shots fire.

The next moments are a blur through her tears. She can't really see anything, but she struggles to make her way to Charon. Burke's grip tightens on her so forcefully that she thinks she might bruise.

"Damn it! Go after him!" She sighs in relief, sagging against Burke as the guards thunder past her. Burke drags her away from the generator room and she sees a guard leading a cursing Dashwood away as well. They all enter the elevator and Sunshine feels Dashwood grasp her hand.

"He'll be okay," he says as the doors open to his floor. She nods numbly even though she isn't sure how he's going to outrun all of those guards who, like ravening beasts, are eager for his blood. The guard drags Dashwood back to his room and Burke hits the button for the penthouse floor. He doesn't say anything as he leads her past the suite he had given her to the one he stays in. She fights the wave of sheer panic that builds up in her throat.

"I want to be in my room," she says weakly.

"You, my dear, have lost all privileges of receiving what you want," Burke almost snarls as he pulls her into the suite. The door slamming behind her echoes through the room like a bell tolling. He turns on her and begins pulling the vault suit off of her. She screams and slaps at him but he persists. She knocks his hat and glasses off of his face and gives him a bloodied lip. He growls and wrests the vault suit off of her. Sobbing, she feels him drag her into the bathroom.

Warm water submerses her body up to her neck and she clings to Burke's arm, terrified he is going to drown her. He takes a rag and begins to clean the blood and gore off of her body. He works in silence and scrubs away at the dried blood and green goo stuck to her skin. She watches as the water dirties as her skin becomes clean. He leans her back to wash her hair and she stares past him to look at the ceiling. His fingers gently tug the tangles free from her hair and she can smell the flowery scent of soap invade her nostrils. His fingers dance lightly over her skin, cleaning her with soft caresses and she simply ignores his touch in favor of counting the cracks in the ceiling. It's funny- she thought that Tenpenny Tower was a perfectly renovated building but it seems that even the tower isn't immune to the ravages of time.

He gently helps her out of the tub and wraps her in a fluffy white towel that begins to stain from the water left on her skin. She looks back at the tub to see it filled to the brim with water made filthy from the blood of feral ghouls and the goo that Charon turned Johnny's friend into. She bites back a cry as Burke leads her away. She sits on the bed and numbly watches him rummage through his dressers for something for her to wear. He pulls out a shirt of his and tosses it to her.

"Here. This will keep you covered until we can get your things from your room," he says. She nods, absently stroking the fabric.

"I'm not going to stay here," she says, pulling the shirt on over her towel. It soaks up some water from the towel and she pulls the towel out from under it. The shirt falls to her knees and is fairly comfortable, but not something she'd want to leave the room in. Burke must have realized that.

"Yes, you are," he says firmly, and she is inexplicitly reminded of her father. "You need rest. You've been through a lot today. " He leans over to kiss her forehead and she manages not to flinch. She catches his gaze with a hard and unforgiving one of her own.

"They won't allow it. The other residents," she says. "You'll have a full scale riot on your hands unless you kill me or let me go." His hand cups her chin and he presses a soft kiss to her lips.

"We'll see," he says. He moves to pick up her Vault suit and says, nose crinkled in disgust, "I'll dispose of this." She's on her feet in an instant, tugging the suit away from Burke to hold it protectively against her chest.

"No," she says, and she is sure the suit is staining Burke's borrowed shirt. "No." He makes an impatient noise and pulls it away from her, knocking her back on the bed before leaving the room. She jumps to her feet and hears the door click shut. She hears Burke's voice say,

"She isn't to leave this room until I return. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," she hears another voice answer and listens as Burke's footsteps fade away. She throws the door open and tries to make a run for it. A strong arm wraps around her waist.

"Sorry, miss," the voice says. "But I have my orders." She is flung back into the room by a young guard, just a few years older than her, and he gives her a pitying look before slamming the door shut. She's back on her feet as a lock clicks and she tries the doorknob to no avail. She pounds on the door as her last recourse, yelling,

"You can't keep me here! Let me go!" She pounds harder on the door and finds little satisfaction in the way in rattles on its hinges. "Burke! _Burke!"_ She doesn't hear an answer and she sighs, slumping against the door. Her eyes travel to the door to the balcony. She stands on shaky feet and walks over to the door, wondering if it is locked. She picks the lock with a little difficulty and she freezes as it creaks. She steps out onto the balcony and sees it connected to the other balconies. She takes off walking, her hand sliding over the guardrail as she begins trying the other doors for a way out. Maybe she can sneak out through another suite. The first one is locked and she can't pick it open. She moves on to the next one. She doesn't think she locked the door to the balcony in her room, so maybe she can go through there and-

"Well, hello!" a voice calls and she freezes. She sees an aged man in the most ridiculous getup. It is made of bright red velvet with a large ruffle extending from the neck. "Fancy that. A visitor. I hardly ever get visitors, which is a shame because I'm usually bored out of my mind."

"Hello," she says cautiously. The man looks her up and down before saying,

"Aren't you cold in that ridiculous getup? What would Burke say if he knew you were running around in nothing but one of his shirts?"

"I'm trying to get out of here," she says flatly. He snorts and says,

"Aren't we all? Here." He pats the chair next to him. "Have a seat, my dear. It has been a dreadfully long time since I've had company." He hands her a glass of scotch which she tentatively accepts and she asks,

"Are you Tenpenny?"

"Indeed I am! Tell me, what do you think of my tower?" He motions for her to take a drink and she does, swallowing the burning liquid with a wince.

"It's nice," she says after a moment of debating with herself. "Not the people but the building. The only person I really like is Mr. Dashwood." He snorts, and says,

"Yes, Mr. Dashwood is quite popular. I imagine if anything were to happen to him there would be a riot on our hands. Fancy Lad Snack Cake?" He holds a snack cake out to her and, shocked, she accepts it.

"I don't really have time for a tea party, sir," she says.

"Nonsense! You have all the time in the world," Tenpenny says, taking a bite out of his snack cake. "It isn't like Burke will let you leave. You're as trapped here as I am." Before she can reply, Burke bursts forth from the balcony doors of Tenpenny's suite. Her vault suit is clenched in his hands and she sees that he made an effort to clean it. She could almost feel touched, if it were anyone but him.

"Darling," he says and she can see that he is straining to keep what little patience he has. "What are you doing? You'll freeze to death out here."

"I told you I wasn't going to stay put," she says, taking a defiant drink of her scotch. Tenpenny snorts and Burke closes his eyes. Sunshine gets the feeling that he's counting to ten. After the ten seconds have passed, he opens his eyes and moves toward her. She lets him pull her up and he says,

"I'll escort you back to our room." He takes the scotch glass from her.

"I'll just get out again," she says, the alcohol making her bold. "There'll be no gilded cage for this songbird, you asshole." Tenpenny laughs as Burke flushes a dark red. The grip on her arm tightens as he begins to lead her away.

"Burke," Tenpenny's voice calls out. "When you have her sufficiently caged, I want to talk to you."

"It can wait," Burke replies heatedly over his shoulder.

"Burke," Tenpenny says again with a hint of warning. "This is still my tower and you are still my employee. I want to talk to you."

"Yes sir," Burke growls before dragging Sunshine back to the suite. He pulls her through the doors and turns to her. She doesn't flinch but can't keep from trembling as she raises her head defiantly. He cups her chin without any gentleness.

"I'll deal with you later," he threatens, his fingernails digging into her skin. She keeps his gaze until he releases her, dropping her Vault suit at her feet before leaving the room. When the door to the balcony shuts and she hears the lock click, she slumps down to the floor.

_What am I going to do?_ She thinks desperately.

"The first thing you're going to do is get dressed," she murmurs to herself. "And then you'll go from there." She tugs Burke's shirt from her body and flings it across the room. With shaking hands, she pulls the Vault suit on and tries not to think of Charon.

"He'll be okay," she murmurs to herself like a child whispering false reassurances against the darkness. She sniffles and fights back tears. Some employer she was. She couldn't even protect her pet dog, let alone Charon. She's wiping her eyes when she hears a familiar voice.

"I'll have you know I'm really good friends with her, loverboy. You wouldn't want to upset me, now would you?" The tone of the voice is low and sultry.

"I-I can't let you in, ma'am," the guard from earlier stutters. "Mr. Burke's or-orders." She hears a playful 'tsk.'

"Oh, come on. Just this once." The voice drops down to a whisper. "I won't tell if you won't." To Sunshine's amazement, she sees the door knob jiggle before the door is swung open. The young guard steps back into the room followed by Susan Lancaster, who lazily runs a hand down his chest. Her eyes catch Sunshine's and she follows her gaze to the bedside lamp. She gives a slight nod to the girl. Sunshine snatches the lamp off of the nightstand and says,

"Sorry about this." The boy doesn't even have time to turn around before she hits him forcefully over the head with it. He slumps to the ground, unconscious, and his helmet rolls across the floor to stop at her feet. Susan shuts the door with a resounding click and bends down to begin removing the boy's armor.

"What are you doing?" Sunshine exclaims, shielding her eyes. Susan gives an impatient huff.

"You're going to wear his armor, idiot!" she hisses. "Stop gawking like a virgin and help me!" Sunshine yelps and bends down to help Susan, holding the boy's arms up as she removes the top part of his armor. Soon the poor boy is left in nothing but his undergarments, so Sunshine throws a blanket over him. Susan huffs impatiently.

"Hurry up!" Sunshine begins tugging the armor on over her Vault suit.

"Why are you helping me?" she asks while tugging on the pants. "I thought you hated me."

"I'm not doing this for you," the woman replies vehemently. "I'm doing this for Herbert." It takes Sunshine a minute to realize she's talking about Dashwood. "He's the only person here who treats me as a person, and not a piece of ass. They've posted a guard on him and they're about to switch out. It's young Matt's turn to be his keeper so we need to hurry and get you to Herbert before the other guards notice."Sunshine pulls the top on. Susan picks up the helmet and plops it rather forcefully on her head. She follows Susan out, barely able to comprehend the instructions the other woman hisses at her.

"Stand up straighter! Walk like a man, for Christ's sake!" Sunshine stiffens her shoulders and makes her strides longer in an awkward attempt to change her pace. Susan rolls her eyes as they get in the elevator.

"I can't follow you," Susan says. "The guards may get suspicious. Try to get to Herbert without incident, all right?"

"Right," Sunshine says, and the two women don't look at each other as the doors open. "Thank you." Susan scoffs before striding purposefully to her room and Sunshine takes off in the opposite direction. Dashwood is leaning against his doorframe smoking a cigarette. He smirks when he sees her.

"I want to take a nighttime walk. I trust that won't be a problem?" She shakes her head and he winks. "You look good, kid. Damned convincing as long as you keep your mouth shut." She follows Dashwood back to the elevator and they pass two Tenpenny guards on their way in. Sunshine keeps her eyes down as Dashwood greets them and he presses the button to close the doors. One of them keeps tilting his head to get a good look at her underneath her helmet before the doors shut.

They reach the ground floor and pass the men and women scrubbing the gore from the floors and walls. They'd already moved the bodies away for burial but Sunshine's eyes catch the one green spot amongst the red. She keeps her eyes fixed in front of her as they exit.

"Your gun is in the armament lockers," Dashwood says as he gestures the beaten military lockers to their left. "They were debating on whether or not to sell it." She goes to retrieve her rifle, all at once reassured and uneasy at the familiar weight of it in her hands. She looks over at Warrington Metro Station. The tunnels connected to the generator room lead there. If Charon and Dogmeat escaped then that is where she'll find them.

"Charon told me about your father," Dashwood says, bringing Sunshine from her musing. "If he didn't make it," and at those words they both wince. "He would have wanted you to continue on." She nods as she tries to blink back tears.

"Thank you," she croaks. He nods and looks out toward the dark horizon.

" Something tells me we're going to have to pass the 'Daring' mantle on to you, young lady." She laughs hollowly.

"Somehow Sunshine 'Daring' Maddox doesn't have the same ring to it as Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood."

"No, I suppose it doesn't," Dashwood says. They hear a dog barking in the night and Sunshine doesn't dare allow herself to hope that it is Dogmeat. But then she hears an unmistakable voice say,

"Shut up, you damned mutt! Do you want to blow our cover?"

"Well," Dashwood says with both a hint of amusement and relief in his voice. "Sounds like our mutual friend survived."

"Charon!" she cries and begins to follow the sound of his voice. She stops and turns back to Dashwood. "Why don't you come with us?" He shakes his head.

"This old man is too old for adventuring," he answers. "Besides, someone has to keep Ms. Lancaster out of trouble. You go on before they realize we've fooled them." She nods before running off. She sees Charon in the yellow Tenpenny security armor and realizes he must have scavenged it from Gustavo. The helmet obscures most of his face but he must have been counting on the dim lighting of the tower to provide him with extra camouflage.

Or maybe he was just going to go with the element of surprise.

She slams into him and he grunts. His helmet falls to the ground with a soft thud.

"You're alive!" she says. He scoffs.

"Of course I am. Those idiots couldn't get rid of me that easily."

"I thought I killed you," she almost sobs into his chest.

"Man up, kid. You don't want to be a sniveling wreck when we find your dad, do you?" he says, rubbing her back affectionately. "Come on. You didn't kill me. I didn't even get wounded. I'm fine. The mutt is fine." She shakes her head and hugs him tighter. He cups her chin and gently tugs her face up.

"Look at me, Sunshine," he says softly and she meets his gaze with a watery one of her own. "I'm alive. You're alive. The dog is alive. And so is your dad. And we're going to go find him. But you have to let go of me so I can walk, okay?"

"Okay," she says. She hugs him tightly one more time before letting him go. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "No more crying. Man up."

"Man up," he repeats gently, cupping her cheek and brushing tears from her skin. She smiles and he smiles back when she covers his large damaged hand with hers.

* * *

I can't believe the Tenpenny Tower arc took six chapters. DX Also, we're at ninety-eight pages and nineteen chapters and soon we'll be coming up on the one year anniversary of this fic. Honestly I thought I'd either be done or given up by now. Thank you all so much for your continued support and, as always, I'm glad you're enjoying the ride.


	20. Let the Games Begin!

Chapter Twenty: Let the Games Begin!

"You know, kid," Charon says as he plants his boot firmly on a downed Talon mercenary's chest. He aims his shotgun in the man's face and pulls the trigger. "That trip to Tenpenny Tower was a wasted effort."

"I don't want to hear about it," she says, crumpling yet another bounty notice in her hand. Charon grins, holstering his shotgun.

"What'd I tell you? If we'd just kept on we would've been here a week ago but no, you had to see your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," she says petulantly. "He's a dirty old man." Charon makes his voice go up in pitch as he mocks,

"'Oh songbird, I can't live without you. Please move in with me and get rid of your ugly-ass pet ghoul.'" Sunshine flushes and punches his shoulder lightly.

"Stop teasing me, jerk."

"Aw, is little Miss 101 getting angry? Is that a blush I see?" She sticks her tongue out at him.

"I'm giving you the cold shoulder until we find my dad, and then he'll get to hear about what a jackass you're being," she says with a grin. Charon ruffles her hair and follows her into Smith Casey's Garage. There is a bounce in her step that he hadn't seen for a while. She'd been talking about her father non-stop since they fled Tenpenny Tower. She's smiling and laughing. So close to finding dad. At least, that is what she tells herself.

She doesn't think she can bear it if this is another dead end.

The garage is seemingly abandoned except for a few stray radroaches and feral molerats. Charon gives her a questioning look and she says,

"The Vault is probably underneath here. What do you think the residents are like? Do you think they like my dad?"

"If they're anything as chipper as you are then I'm sure they're treating your dad just fine," Charon says to hide the unease he feels. Most Vaults weren't like the one Sunshine came out of. Their residents were usually long dead from whatever torture house Vault Tech had invented for them. He just hopes that this Vault 112 doesn't hide some tomb of horrors. He follows her as she noses around blast doors embedded in the floor. She figures out the opening mechanism pretty fast and he feels a faint stirring of pride. Ahzurkhal would have never figured that thing out. He would have opted for cursing and shouting and kicking the floor until Charon showed him how it was done.

The stairs lead downward in an ominous fashion.

"All we need now is to pick up Virgil and take him for a few drinks," he says as a weak attempt at a joke. She smiles halfheartedly in an attempt to hide her own unease. The hallways remind her of the metros and she slowly looks around the corners in search of feral ghouls. The vault door is an eerie doppelganger of the one of her home but thankfully lacks the skeletons next to angry picket signs. She pulls the lever and the sirens that blare remind her of when she fled Vault 101 after her father. The thought of finding him again makes her hesitate as she remembers their last conversation.

"Kid?" Charon asks quietly from behind her as the flashing red lights dance over their skin.

"You know what I said to him before he left?" she whispers as the door slowly groans open, a carnivorous mouth to a great greedy monster. "I said 'I don't think you're human at all. You're a goddamned unfeeling bastard just like the Overseer. Just wanting to control me and make me into an unthinking docile sheep of the Vault. The perfect ignorant citizen.'"

"And what did he have to say to that?" Charon asks. She smiles as if thinking of a long past and painful memory.

"'Well, that's my job, isn't? To turn you into a grown-up. To make sure you're ready to handle adult life here in the Vault. You're not a kid anymore!'" She says the words with such a strong inflection and Charon can see her tremble. "Those were the last words we said to each other before he left. Not 'I love you.' Not 'I'm leaving.' I just woke up to Amata's frantic pleading the next morning, and suddenly I didn't have a father anymore."

"Well, now you have a chance to make it right," Charon says. "To apologize."

"What if he's dead?" she whispers. "What if it's too late?"

"You won't ever know for sure until you step through that door," he replies, his hand lingering over the small of her back. "Don't worry, kid. For good or ill, I am with you." She nods and, taking a deep breath, steps inside.

The interior to the Vault is jarringly quiet. There is no sign of life besides the lone Robobrain that greets them.

"Welcome to Vault 112, resident! According to sensors, you have arrived 202.3 years behind schedule. Please re-dress in your Vault-Tec issued Vault suit before proceeding. If you have misplaced your suit, I am authorized to distribute a new one."

"Uh," Sunshine says unsurely and looking down at her dirty armor. "I've lost my Vault suit." The robobrain rolls to a set of cabinets and pulls another Vault suit out. It holds it to her in its mechanical claw almost expectantly and the 1-1-2 on the back distorts in its grip. She takes it and says over her shoulder to Charon,

"Turn around, okay?" He nods and turns around, thinking of algebra and baseball as he hears her clothing hit the floor.

"Once dressed, please proceed downstairs to the main floor so you may enter your assigned Tranquility Lounger," the robobrain chirps. The suit is scratchy and too tight. She struggles to zip it up completely before giving up entirely.

"Stupid thing," she mutters. She sighs before announcing, "I'm dressed." Charon shoots her a look but doesn't say anything. She gathers up her discarded armor and slips it haphazardly into her pack. She follows the robobrain down another set of stairs. _Does it ever end? _She thinks forlornly. _Or do we just keep plunging deeper into the abyss? _

Strange pods are arranged in a circle with robobrains rolling around them. The robots seem to be checking the equipment and Sunshine recognizes the tell-tale beeping of life support systems. She looks uneasily at the pods as Charon says,

"There are people in those things."

"Yeah," she says uneasily. She walks over to one and peers inside. Her hands fly to her mouth to stifle the cry that seems to echo throughout the room regardless. A person-she couldn't tell if they were a man or woman-lounges back. Various tubes run in and out of the person. The person is shriveled up like some sort of mummy and looks like something out of an old monster holotape. She can make out the faint rise and fall of their chest.

"Christ," Charon says from beside her. "What the hell is that thing?" She eyes the terminal across from the pod and goes to open it.

"T. Dithers," she says. "Pulse: 80 bpm. BP: Error. Temperature: 0.00 Fahrenheit. Respiratory Rate: 5/min. Warning, anomaly detected." She scrolls down to a file that is labeled 'Resident Stress Level.' "Stress level: Warning, stress extreme. Resident requires medical attention." She looks back at the pod uneasily. "I don't know the first thing about unhooking that machine."

"I think you'd kill them if you did," Charon says as he watches the rapid rise and fall of the person's breathing. They move on and Sunshine checks every pod they walk past, fearing the worst.

She is proven correct in her fears as they reach one that is slightly separated from the others.

"Dad!" she cries, her hands splayed across the glass of the dome. Charon looks around her shoulder to get a look at the man they'd spent so much time chasing. Tubes don't stick out of him like the other residents, possibly because he has not been here for two centuries. Simple IVs in his arms and head are all that are hooked into him. However, even through the foggy glass, Charon can see that the man looks sickly. He glances at Sunshine.

They look just like each other, two halves of the same whole. He wonders if he's anything like her.

"I have to get him out," she says, her fingers searching for purchase amongst the various nooks and crannies of the pod. She freezes as her father lets out a shaking, rattling breath. She looks at the tubing and the static-filled screen in front of his face.

"It's some kind of simulation, kid," Charon says. "Back before the war, they were used for everything from pleasure to military training." She nods absently and sees one lone, empty pod.

"Then there is only one option," she says and Charon's heart sinks through his stomach. "I gotta go in after him." She moves toward the empty pod and Charon grabs her arm.

"It isn't safe," he says. _Please, don't do this._ She looks up at him.

"I have to rescue him."

"What lets you in so easily may not let you out in the same fashion," he says. "Let's find another way." She shakes her head.

"There isn't any time. I don't know how long he's been here. He isn't hooked up to a life support system like the others. There's a good chance he'll starve to death in there if I don't get him out."

"Kid," he says uneasily but she places a hand on his lips.

"I'll be fine," she says with a faint smile. "I won't stay in there forever." His hands-when had he grabbed her with both of them?-tighten on her, unwilling to let her go. Her hand moves from his mouth to one of the hands that hold her arms.

"Charon," she says softly. "You can't follow me. There's only one pod. I'll be fine. Pinky swear." He nods before releasing her. She gives him what she hopes is a reassuring smile and opens the pod. Before sliding in, she hears Charon say,

"I'm holding you to that. The being fine." She nods.

"I shouldn't be more than a couple of days. If I am, go back to-"

"No," he interrupts. "Don't. Please." She looks back at him and he attempts a smile of his own. "Good or ill, remember?" She nods and, with a deep breath, sits back in the pod. It shuts with a click and comes to life with a deafening roar. She feels the needles of various IVs jab her and she hisses in response. Her eyes cut over to Charon hovering worriedly by the pod and Dogmeat's paws on the glass. She can't hear anything but she sees muscles in the dog's throat flex with his barking. She sees Charon place his hand against the pod and follows the torn skin that covers his palm like one giant never-ending life-line. She tries to place her hand against the glass in response, but a set of cold and angry eyes flash in front of her vision before she slumps down into forced unconsciousness, her hand hanging limply at her side.

* * *

When she comes to she is sitting on a bench in a simulated Pre-War neighborhood. She has to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight. Her hand reaches up to cover her eyes and see sees a watch where her Pip-Boy would have been. She stands and feels strange and lacking. It feels like there isn't enough of her. She looks down at herself to see the small body of a child.

"Well, hello there, missy!" a chipper voice calls. She turns to see a kind-looking middle aged man smiling down at her.

"Hello sir," she says and is horrified to hear that she sounds exactly as she did when she was ten. "Have you seen my dad?"

"Nope, I can't say that I have! Don't you worry about it though! You'll find him." She has to struggle to make out his words.

"I'm sorry, sir. Can you repeat that? I can't hear you over the music." He laughs and ruffles her hair.

"All you kids are just alike-big jokesters! I said don't worry about it, little missy. Your dad is around. Why don't you go play with Betty? She loves making new friends!" He points to a small park in the center of the neighborhood. A small girl with a watering can and a dog sitting at her heels is staring at her from across the way. Sunshine feels a chill run down her spine as she catches her gaze. She whistles a haunting melody that makes the hair on the back of Sunshine's neck stand up. The man gently nudges her and says,

"Go on, sport!" She tentatively moves toward the girl, who stops whistling, and smiles with a mouth full of pointy teeth.

"Oh, someone new to play with! What good luck I have today!" she says cheerfully. "Do you want to play a game?"

"What?" Sunshine says. "No. I don't have time." Betty's eyes narrow as she pets her dog rather forcefully.

"I want to play a game. You'll play with me, won't you?"

"I want to find-" she tries again but the girl cuts her off with an impatient stomp of her foot.

"We're going to play a game!" Sunshine feels that foreign chill run down her spine again and she acquiesces.

"Okay," she says like she is trying to console a child throwing a tantrum. "I'd love to play a game." Betty is all smiles once more and she says,

"Oh, I knew you would! It's a simple game, really. There is this boy who lives here. He's the only other kid around here besides you. His name is Timmy Neusbaum and I want you to make him cry."

"Why would I-" Sunshine begins but notices the dangerous look Betty gives her. She changes her tone. "Make the Neusbaum kid cry. Right."

"Good," Betty says with a smile. "I'll be waiting here when you finish." Sunshine looks over to see a kid with a lemonade stand on the sidewalk in front of his house. He waves furiously when he catches sight of her. She sighs and steels herself before walking over there.

_Just be like Butch, _she thinks as she remembers all the times he made her cry back in the Vault.

"Hi, I'm Timmy!" he says as she walks up. "Want to play?"

"Um," she says. He smiles at her, holding out a glass of lemonade.

"Want a drink? Consider it on the house," he says with a wink. She gingerly accepts the cup.

"Thanks," she says.

"You're new here, right? What's your name?"

"Sunshine," she answers, taking a large drink of her lemonade. She looks over to see Betty standing across the way with her arms crossed and an impatient look on her face. "What do you like, Timmy?"

"Oh, gee whiz," he says. "I like lots of things. Comic books and kites and riding my bicycle. But most of all I like my parents. They're really nice and swell and take really good care of me. I never ever wanna grow up if it means I have to leave my parents!"

"But what if they divorce?" she tries and feels bad at the stricken look that blossoms over his face.

"Don't say that!" he says vehemently. "Don't ever say that!" And just like that, she knew how she could make him cry.

"Why not? It's true. They _are_ getting a divorce. And you know why?" she says. He shakes his head and his eyes are wide with fear. "Because of you, Timmy."

"B-because of me? Did I do something wrong?" he asks and his pitiful voice makes her heart break.

"Yeah. They hate you. They wish you were dead. Who wants a snot-nosed little kid clinging to them all the time?" she says harshly and she feels that even Butch would be ashamed of her.

"No!" Timmy says. "Not my mommy and daddy!" He begins to cry and she turns away from him, dropping the lemonade cup at his feet. Betty stands in the park with an amused expression and begins clapping slowly as Sunshine makes her way back to her, Timmy's sobs echoing in her ears.

"Not the most inventive approach," she comments and her voice is jarringly different. "But persuasion can be an effective weapon none-the-less and you wielded it amenably. "

"That was awful," Sunshine mutters, rubbing her arm. Betty laughs and her child-like voice is back.

"As a reward for winning the game, you get one question," she says, holding up a single finger. "And I will give you an honest answer."

"Where is my father?" tumbles out of her mouth. Betty tilts her head.

"Your father?" she asks.

"He's a scientist. He came here looking for Doctor Braun," Sunshine explains. Betty's mouth opens in an 'o' shape of recognition and she leans down to pet her dog again.

"Oh my," she says, ruffling the dog's fur in a rough caricature of affection. "I had no idea the two of you were related. What a splendid turn of events!" She makes kissy faces at the dog. "Yes, I have indeed seen him. But I'm afraid he's rather unavailable at the moment."

"Why-" Sunshine begins but Betty tsks.

"You've already used up your question. You want another answer? Then you have to play another game." Sunshine huffs and looks down at the poor dog being caressed by Betty's rough hands. She doesn't want to have to look into those unnerving eyes the girl has.

"Fine," she says through gritted teeth. "What's next?" Betty claps her hands excitedly and says,

"More than you ever dreamed."

* * *

I've been busy these past couple of weeks and I'm making up for it with an explosion of writing! :D There's a _Ada or Ardor _reference in here because I am shameless. :D I'm really excited about this arc. Tranquility Lane was one of my favorite quests. And, of course, there is the fact that Sunshine is so close to getting her dad back!

You guys have been amazing and awesome and all the other good adjectives I can't think of right now! Thank you all so much!


	21. When Safety Fails

Chapter Twenty-One: When Safety Fails

"I want you to pay a visit to the Rockwells. They're happily married and I'd like you to change that." Sunshine stares at Betty.

"Why?" she asks. Betty rolls her eyes.

"Because it's fun, of course! Now go on and impress me!" She makes shooing motions with her hands. The dog barks and stands up. He moves over to Sunshine with his tail wagging and a whine in his throat. Sunshine bends down to pet him.

"Oh, you want to go with her?" Betty says uninterestedly. "Fine. Go ahead. Just don't be a pest. She has very important work to do." The dog growls and Sunshine stands up. She breathes out a soft sigh. She didn't know the first thing about breaking up a marriage. She isn't in the business of hurting people for sport. But Betty is and she is the key to finding her father. As much as she hated it, she had to do what she wanted. She wanders around aimlessly for a while and talks to some of the residents of Tranquility Lane. She doesn't learn anything of note until she talks to Mabel Henderson.

"What can you tell me about the Rockwells?" she asks. Mabel looks at her suspiciously.

"Why on earth would you want to know about them?"

"Uh, school report," Sunshine answers. Mabel instantly brightens.

"Oh, how sweet of you to write your report on them! They're really nice, aren't they? It's swell that they worked everything out!"

"Worked everything out?" Sunshine asks wearily. Mabel's hand flies to her mouth in faux restraint.

"Oh, I'm not really one to talk," she says excitedly. "But they had a fight last year. Everyone could hear them arguing. Janet was convinced that Robert was having an affair with Martha Simpson but he eventually convinced her it wasn't true." The woman looks around from side to side before leaning down to whisper,

"I've seen the way Martha looks at him. Janet may believe him, but I sure don't."

"Thanks for the tip," Sunshine says miserably, ignoring the protests of 'I wouldn't call it a tip!' that spring from Mabel's mouth. She looks over toward the Simpson house, sighing heavily. She looks down at the dog.

"I hate this place," she says. The dog barks in what seems to be affirmation. She reluctantly goes into the Rockwell's house. She hears the couple in the kitchen and sneaks up to their room. Maybe she could steal some lingerie from Martha and place it on the bed? She eyes a journal next to the nightstand and snatches it up. The dog whines lowly in his throat and nudges her leg. She leans down to calm him.

"Shh," she says. "I need you to be quiet, okay?" The dog whines again and she hears footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Shh," she says again before pulling the dog with her into the closet. She watches the wife, Janet, turn to the wardrobe and sigh unhappily. She runs a hand over a dress forlornly before turning to the closet. _Shit. _Sunshine clutches the dog, who decided to be quiet, closer to her. He nuzzles her in a seeming act of comfort. Janet freezes before opening the closet. Her hand is on the door before she inexplicitly turns and leaves. Sunshine lets out a shaky breath before stealthily exiting the closet. She scurries down the stairs and leaves the house.

She plops down on the park bench she spawned on the read Janet's diary.

"'Sometimes I wish I really had beaten Martha to death with that rolling pin last year," she reads. She shudders as she thinks that a good way to break up their marriage would be to beat Martha to death and blame it on Janet. But she pushes that thought out of her mind. She doesn't have the stomach for such a deed, let alone the physical capability. She reads about how dissatisfied and suspicious Janet is at the fact Robert spends all of his time in the basement.

"Looks like I just figured out where to plant the 'evidence'," she says to the dog. He whines unhappily and she mutters, "Yeah. You and me both." She stands to go to the Simpson house and sees an old woman leaning against a tree as if she were hiding. The woman's eyes are alight with a strange fear as she watches Sunshine's every move. Sunshine moves to walk toward her but catches Betty's gaze first. She doesn't slow her pace as she barges into the Simpson house.

Martha isn't home and Sunshine is thankful for small favors.

She heads straight to her bedroom to knick her lingerie. It lies haphazardly on the bed and Sunshine winces as she picks it up. The dog takes it in his teeth and tries to tug it away from her.

"No," she says irritably and tries to tug it back away from him. "I don't expect you to understand because you're just a computer simulation, but I'm doing this for my dad." The dog sits down and whines, letting Sunshine pull the lingerie from his teeth.

She makes quick work of placing it in the Rockwell's basement. She goes back to Betty with lead-lined steps and slumped shoulders. The girl claps her hands excitedly and takes Sunshine by the hand.

"Let's get closer and watch the show!" Sunshine sighs and allows herself to be dragged along. They plop down on the sidewalk next to the Rockwell's house and Betty says,

"Any minute now!" Sunshine stares up at the sky as they wait. It's a cold, unnatural blue and the sun sits stagnantly in place. The light of it is more reminiscent of a light bulb than actual sunshine. And there is no way to tell the passage of time, something that she is certain was done intentionally.

A prison with no windows.

Sunshine kicks her feet as the screaming starts. Betty giggles as Janet calls Robert and Martha all sorts of horrible obscenities. The argument crescendos with Janet pushing her husband out of the house and slamming the door in his face, yelling threats about how she was going to drop her ring in the garbage disposal.

"That was amusing," she says, her voice changing again. "But you were sloppy. You almost got caught!" She shakes her finger in Sunshine's face.

"Do I still win?" Sunshine asks, hating herself for asking the question. Betty smiles beatifically and makes Sunshine's skin crawl.

"I should tell you no, but I'm feeling generous." She makes a gesture of acceptance. "Go ahead."

"Why is my father incapacitated, and in what way?" Sunshine all but demands. Betty tsks.

"Only one question. I'll answer the first. Your father was not as accepting as you," she says after a pause. "He wouldn't play with me, instead spouting all sorts of moral objections and other such nonsense. So I incapacitated him. He is still very much aware but unable to annoy me with his useless chatter." Sunshine stares at Betty in horror as she grins again.

"Ready for the next game?" she says in her innocent and child-like voice.

"I," she says, trailing off.

"I'm expecting nothing short of excellence from you," Betty begins. She leans forward as if the two of them are great friends sharing a terrible secret. "I want you to kill that gossip Mable Henderson."

"How?" Sunshine says wearily. A low whine begins in the dog's throat and he nudges Sunshine's leg adamantly. She pushes him away as she listens to Betty's instructions.

"You can't simply beat her to death. That's boring. I want you to kill her in a creative way. Amaze me!" she says, standing and offering Sunshine her hand. Sunshine takes it and Betty pulls her up. "I know you can do it! Show me what you've got!"

She begins the same way she did for the last unsavory task-by using the residents of Tranquility Lane. She finds out from Mabel herself that she loves baking pies.

Explosions are a God-awful way to die.

The dog growls as Sunshine enters Mabel's house and growls even louder when she stops in the kitchen, stooping over to open the oven. She reaches in to dislodge the pilot light and the dog noses her hand away from the light. She lets out a disgruntled groan and pushes the dog away, only to have him crawl in her lap.

"Stop it, you stupid simulation!" she snaps, shoving him off of her. She turns on him. "You're not getting in the way of me finding my dad! I'll go through anything to get him out of this hellhole, even if it means torturing people who are better off dead! _Now knock it off!" _ The dog sits down almost expectantly. She turns to dislodge the pilot light again and he lets out a single, sharp bark.

"God damn it-" she swears, looking at him again. And she sees the same bright green eyes that stare back at her in the mirror, the ones she had trouble remembering before she went to sleep at night. Eyes that have been heavy with sadness and resignation and alight with happiness and pride. She reaches out a single hand to touch his cheek and he leans into it. It's a mirror image of the pose they were often found in when she was a child, she weeping and he gently wiping the tears from her face.

"Dad," she breathes. He barks again. She throws her arms around him, awkwardly hugging him.

"I'm so sorry for everything," she says against his fur. He barks again in what she hopes is his way of saying 'it's all right.' It really isn't but she doesn't want her father to think any less of her. She's only ever wanted him to be proud of her.

"You," a voice breathes. Sunshine startles, falling backwards from her knees onto her back. The old woman who had watched her is looking down at her.

"Who are you?" Sunshine finds her voice.

"You don't belong here," the woman says, almost as if she's in a trance. She falls to her knees and grabs Sunshine. Sunshine screams and struggles, pushing away from her. Her father begins barking wildly. "Shh shh. It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you! I'm not!" The woman's grip tightens almost painfully. Sunshine is afraid Betty sent this woman to kill her, that she knows she doesn't want to torture these people anymore and so she is going to incapacitate her like she did her father-

"It's not real!" the old woman screams. "None of it! The suffering has to end! Please!"

"Please let go of me," Sunshine whispers, frozen with fear. "Please. I just want to get my father out of here."

"The failsafe. You have to activate the failsafe!" the woman's eyes are half-mad with desperation and she shakes Sunshine fiercely. "I know Braun still uses it! It's the only way to free us. _Please._"

"Where?" Sunshine croaks out.

"The old abandoned house. Please free us! Please stop the pain!" The woman's nails dig into Sunshine's arms and she feels false rivulets of blood stream down them.

"Okay," she says. "I'll activate it. But you have to let me go, okay? Don't tell Betty." The old woman nods mechanically and lets go of her.

"Run," she whispers before curling in on herself in a great convulsing heap. Sunshine barely registers the unnatural way the old woman's limbs bend before bolting toward the door with her father close behind and she flees to the old abandoned house. An assortment of garbage lines the floor and she doesn't see a terminal anywhere. She has to hurry before Betty finds her and stops her. They can't be trapped here forever. She has to get her father out before he starves to death and, oh God, what will happen to Charon if she doesn't make it out? In her panic, she knocks a glass pitcher to the floor. It lets out a single clear and melodic note before falling silent. She hits it again and it makes the same sound. She sees a broken radio and hits it. It lets out a deeper and lower sound. If she listens closely, she can just make out the maddening tune that was all she could focus on when she first entered the simulation.

"Sunshine!" she hears Betty's voice sing from outside. "Come out and I won't hurt you or your father. We can play some more. I really don't want to have to recalibrate the simulation again!" She locks the door for all the good it will do.

She whistles, as Betty did, keeping track of the notes. After several discordant and failed attempts the far wall shimmers before disappearing. She all but sprints over to activate the terminal. She reads through Braun's journal entries and feels a sick dread in her stomach. He had been torturing these people since before the Great War.

"Sunshine!" she hears again and this time it is Braun's real voice laced with a violent anger and-dare she say?-fear. "Don't you dare activate that failsafe._ Don't you dare_!"

"It ends here," she whispers, activating the failsafe. Gunshots and screaming erupt outside and she hears a peaceful voice over Braun's shouting say,

"Thank you."


	22. Flatlining

Chapter Twenty-Two: Flat-lining

Charon rests fitfully against the pod Sunshine entered. It'd been almost three days since the pod snapped shut over her. A restlessness he can't shake lights up his very bones. He hasn't been able to sleep. His dreams have been plagued with images of Sunshine withering away in the pod like those poor bastards that had been granted entry into Vault 112. He would stay rooted to this spot for all eternity with no choice but to waste away with her.

He wonders if the outcome would have been the same if he wasn't a slave to his contract and if he had allowed her to send him away. Somehow, he thinks he would have fought to stay anyway.

The beeping doesn't register in his sleep deprived brain at first. It is only when he hears Dogmeat's frantic barking alongside it that he jerks up into cold consciousness.

The residents are flat-lining, one by miserable one.

"No!" he growls, springing to his feet. He pounds on the glass to Sunshine's pod, willing the glass to crack open so he can pull her out. "Don't you do this to me, kid!" He feels a swift wave of relief wash over him as he sees her stir and realizes his fears are groundless. The pod breathes open with a hiss and she rips the IVs from her body. Thin rivulets of blood run down her skin but she still smiles up at him.

"Charon," she says as he helps her out, leaning against him for support. She's cold and that bothers him. "Boy, am I glad to see you." He opens his mouth to respond but the hissing of another pod opening beats him to it. Her eyes light up and she calls,

"Dad!" She tumbles from his arms toward the sound and he follows her, avoiding a panicking robobrain. The man they had been chasing, Sunshine's father, lets out a groan as he steps out of the pod. His legs can't hold him and it is all Sunshine can do to catch him before he collapses completely. They sink to the floor together and the man smiles the same sort of smile she has.

"You've saved me. I was afraid I'd be trapped in there forever," he says and she hugs him tightly. He wraps his arms tighter around her in response. "It's so good to see you, sweetheart. But what are _you_ _doing here?"_

"Later," she says thickly past the lump in her throat. "I'll explain later. Let's get you out of here first." She struggles to stand up but manages and holds her father up. Charon moves to help her, crouching down and taking the man's other arm before throwing it over his shoulder. Together, they lead him away from Vault 112 which now only houses dead bodies and sobbing robobrains.

When they get back to the garage, Sunshine and Charon lead her dad to one of the mattresses in the room. They gently set him down on it and she goes back to the blast doors. She pries open the opening mechanism and clenches a handful of wires in her fist. She tugs, pulling the wires loose and dropping them to the floor. Charon doesn't say anything as she moves to enter another room but she feels his fingers run subtly across her arm in a comforting manner as she brushes past him.

She pulls the Vault 112 suit from her body and flings it away as though it were radioactive. She pulls her Vault 101 suit on wearily, finding less comfort in wearing it than she usually did, and goes back to the room where Charon and her dad are waiting. Her dad is sitting on the mattress with his back against the wall and a tired hand reaches out to pet Dogmeat. Charon busies himself with barricading the entrances to the garage. She opens her mouth to speak but lets it snap shut again.

She doesn't know what to say to her father even after all of this time. He is likewise at a loss for words and they just stare at each other until one of them decides to break the silence.

"You should probably eat something," Sunshine says gently, moving over to sit next to her dad. She begins rummaging through her pack and notes that there is nothing that isn't at least slightly radioactive to eat. She hands him a pack of Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and he smiles weakly before taking it.

"Thank you, sweetheart," he says. He tears open the pack of sweets with some difficulty and takes a tentative bite of one. Charon sits down on a mattress across the room from them and watches Sunshine watch her father. Finally, her father says wearily,

"I'm glad to see you, Sunshine. But why aren't you in the Vault? I told you not to follow me."

"The overseer didn't take you leaving as well as you thought he would. He sent his goons to 'reeducate' me." At her father's sharp intake of breath, she gives him a lopsided grin to reassure him. "I'm just as bad at taking orders as you are, dad."

"Oh, sweetie," he says. "I'm so sorry. I meant for you to be safe there." She shakes her head, partly in an effort to console her father and partly to chase away the phantom pain of no longer having a home to go back to.

"Why'd you leave, dad?" she asks. It is the question that has been haunting her ever since she fled Vault 101. He sighs heavily and sets down his food, giving up all pretense of trying to eat.

"Project Purity," he says finally. "Fresh, clean water for everyone. We worked on it together, your mother and me. It was her biggest dream, other than meeting you." He closes his eyes. "After she died, I left it. I guess you could say I'm trying to make amends."

"And what did you find out at Vault 112?" she asks, repressing a shudder. "What could have possibly been helpful in that place?" Charon shoots her a worried look and she mouths, 'later'. He nods, seemingly satisfied. Her father doesn't miss the exchange between them but he chooses not to comment.

"I went to Vault 112 hoping to find some of Braun's research notes. I never expected him to still be alive and insane," he begins. "What I learned from him was that I was right. The technology he developed is unstable, even dangerous, but it can be adapted for Project Purity. I need to return to Rivet City and talk to Madison. If we can find a G.E.C.K, we can make Project Purity work."

"Rivet City?" Sunshine asks unhappily. "You could have died. Don't you want to rest for a bit? I have a place in Megaton you can stay at. We could catch up." _I feel like I've never known you_, she thinks_. _Her dad shakes his head and takes her hand in his.

"Please understand, Sunshine," he says more to her hand than to her face. "As much as I love you, this project has been my responsibility since before you were born. Too many people have made sacrifices for it to be given up now. Your mother," he trails off, squeezing her hand. "Please understand."

_You left it, _she wants to say. _You left it for me and now you left me for it. I'm your daughter! I should come first!_

"Okay," she says instead. "We'll leave as soon as you're able. You need to rest up and rebuild your strength. Doctor's orders."

"Yes ma'am," he says with a laugh. She manages a smile.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep. You should probably do the same." He moves over so she'll have more room but she doesn't notice, instead standing and walking over to Charon.

"Scoot over," she mock demands. Charon grins up at her.

"Manners, kid. I ain't moving." She flashes him a matching grin and instead plops down on him, a mess of tangled limbs. He grunts as she makes herself comfortable, curling around him like a vice.

"I can't exactly keep watch with you clinging to me," he grumbles even while he throws an arm around her. She sticks her tongue out and places her head against the crook of his shoulder.

"You put up barricades," she says sleepily. "It'll be fine." He huffs but allows her to fall asleep against him. Normally he'd protest more vigorously. After all, this wasn't a habit he wanted her to fall into for various reasons. But he thought he had lost her in that damned Vault. So he lets her get away with more than he would normally and just relishes the feel of her soft and warm against him. She sighs in her sleep and he sighs in response, contently resting his cheek on the top of her head.

He looks up to see her father staring at the two of them with a questioning expression.

"What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?" he asks softly. Charon opens his mouth to answer but snaps it shut when the words 'Talk to Sunshine' threaten to spill over. Instead, he answers,

"I'm her bodyguard." Her father nods although Charon doesn't think he is convinced.

Hell, in his place, he wouldn't be either.

"Well, thank you for protecting her so well. I'm afraid I never taught her how to handle any weapons. I didn't think she'd need to know," he says with a sense of wry self-deprecation. "I'm grateful to you for keeping her safe. I'm sorry, but what's your name?"

"Charon."

"I'm James. James Maddox."

"You're not what I expected," Charon grunts. James lets out a surprised laugh. His voice has been made rough and jarring from being kept in that simulation pod.

"You aren't either, to be honest. Neither one of you."

"Fair enough," Charon answers. He looks down at the sleeping girl curled around him and thinks of the night when she cried about her father in her sleep with Charon's lips just inches away from hers. Thinks of all the stories she told him about her father, the moments of doubt she felt, all of the fear she expressed at the thought of her father being dead. His grip tightens on her. "She went through a hell of a lot to find you." James winces.

"I have no doubt of that. She's as tenacious as her old man," he says in a weak attempt to joke. "'As selfish and insubordinate' too, the Overseer always said." Charon nods, his fingers curling in her hair.

"You are selfish," Charon says quietly to James. James' eyes are alight with a familiar pain that Charon has seen mirrored in Sunshine's eyes numerous times. _Just alike._

"I know," is all he says. The two men don't say anything further to each other for the rest of the night. James spends the night staring at the ceiling and Charon spends the night holding Sunshine, his grip tightening every time she whimpers in her sleep.

* * *

Sunshine wakes up the next morning feeling Dogmeat's hot, smelly breath on her face.

"Gross," she mutters. Dogmeat barks happily and licks her cheek. She sits up, wiping her face with her sleeve and sees her father helping Charon take down the barricades. He beams at her, trying to make himself look better than he actually is. Dark bags hang underneath his eyes and there is a weariness to his step that she doesn't ever remember seeing.

"Good morning, sweetie!" he says. "I've come to a decision."

"Regarding what?" she asks sleepily, standing up and moving over to help the two men.

"Well, I've been thinking. About leaving straight for Rivet City," he says. "Megaton is on the way. I don't see any reason why we can't make a pit stop." She thinks he sees her father look over to Charon and sees Charon nod slightly, but she doesn't dwell on it as she throws her arms around her father.

"Really? Really and truly?" she cries. He laughs spinning her around with a little difficulty like he did when she was a child.

"Of course," he says.

"Oh, this is wonderful! You can meet my friends! I think you'll like Moira in particular. And my house!" she says excitedly. "You can see my house!"

"Of course, of course, I'd love to see your-you have a house. In _Megaton?_" her father asks incredulously. "How on earth did you manage that?" She becomes fidgety and withdrawn, like she did when Charon demanded to know about Burke.

"Uh, I did a couple of favors for Lucas Simms. You know Lucas Simms, right?" she asks with a nervous laugh. "The sheriff with the Calamity Jane hat?"

"What kind of favors?" her dad asks suspiciously.

"Oh, you know, some tiny stuff here and there. Nothing major, nothing too dangerous," she answers vaguely. Before her father can object, she chirps, "Come on! Time's a-wasting, and Megaton's not getting any closer!" She bounces past Charon as he opens the door, muttering a soft, "Keep your mouth shut," as she dances by. He chuckles before turning to James to give him a nonchalant shrug and following Sunshine out.

James follows them out, shaking his head.


	23. Reunions

Chapter Twenty-Three: Reunions

Sunshine stares in disbelief as her father punches out a Talon Company merc, blood gushing from the man's face as he hits the ground. Her father gives him a good, swift kick while rubbing his fist. Megaton towers in the distance. They had been so close to reaching it without incident when a group of mercenaries ambushed them.

Charon comes up to stand beside her father, his armor stained with blood. He looks down at the mercenary with a seemingly bored look on his face but Sunshine can see the tell-tale smile that tugs at his lips.

"Not half bad," he comments. "A little sloppy though." James snorts.

"As if killing things with a shotgun is so clean and tidy." They both look over with amusement at the unbelieving look on Sunshine's face.

"Where in the hell did you learn to do that?" she squeaks. "You just-with _your bare hands-_"

"Your old man has more than a few tricks up his sleeve," he says with a wink, rubbing his hands. He turns to face her completely and his voice becomes stern. "Care to tell me why you have Talon Company mercenaries after you?"

"Uh," she says. James laughs and she breathes out a sigh. He pulls her into a tight hug.

"I'm very proud of you," he whispers as if telling her a great secret. He pulls away and clasps her on the shoulder. She ignores the bloody handprint his touch leaves on the cloth. "You don't get Talon Company after you without being a good person!"

"Yeah, well," she says, kicking her foot in the wasteland dirt. "I'm not an insufferable asshole." The three of them make their way to Megaton and greet Deputy Weld, the resident protectron crier, at the gate. When the gates slide open Sunshine feels a heavy weight lift off of her chest. Megaton wasn't home, but it was as close as she could get out here in the wastes. She missed the leaning scrap walls and the weary people more than she cared to admit. She sees Harden and Maggie playing on the hill by her house and waves to them. They come running to see her and she laughs as they each grab a leg and begin speaking at the same time.

"Where did you go?"

"Where have you been?"

"Did you kill any monsters?"

"Who's the big guy?"

She laughs in response, leaning down to hug them.

"One at a time, one at a time," she chides teasingly. "I went to find my father. Now I'm back. This is my friend, Charon. And no, I didn't kill any monsters." Just feral ghouls and super mutants and androids and Talon company mercenaries and the tortured citizens of Vault 112. Harden looks up at Charon, who looks down at him with a stone-faced expression.

"You're tall!" he says. Charon grunts in response.

"It's all that radiation," Sunshine teases. "He was two feet tall when I met him and now look at him!"

"He was not!" Maggie says. Then she looks at Charon with her head tilted questioningly. "Were you?" He says nothing but feels a grin tug at his lips. Sunshine stands and the children each take one of her hands.

"Come on. I'd like to go say hi to your fathers," she says.

"Billy is at Moriarty's!"Maggie says. She tugs Sunshine toward her. "Say hi to him first!" She nods and looks over her shoulder at Charon and her father.

"I'll be back. My house is over there," she says, jerking her head toward it. "The key is in the backpack, Charon." He nods, not commenting that she is the one wearing the backpack. "Feel free to look around." They watch as the children lead her away to Moriarty's Saloon. James looks down at the bomb in the center of town.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with her living here with that thing," he comments. "There's no telling when it'll detonate."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," a voice says from behind them. The two men turn to see a man in a brown duster and a cowboy hat smiling serenely at them. "She deep-sixed that thing for good."

"Pardon?" James asks. Simms nods.

"Yep. She disarmed that cursed thing. Had me evacuate everyone to Springvale before working on it, in case something went wrong. I stayed with her while she worked-after all, this is my town." He shakes his head. "Poor girl's hands were shaking so hard I thought she might accidentally cut the wrong wire. But we're still here and now the only thing that bomb is good for is a giant doorstop."

"She disarmed the bomb?" James asks with a hint of both fear and pride. "That's the favor she did for you to get a house here?" He laughs, glancing back at the bomb. "I'll be damned."

"It's good that she found you," Simms says warmly. "You're all she'd talk about before she left." James nod and thanks him, seemingly touched. He turns to Charon.

"Since we can't get into her house because she took the key, how about I buy you a drink?" Charon nods his assent and follows James after Sunshine. She sees her laugh as the children pull her into Moriarty's.

Sunshine hates Moriarty but most of the people in town she wants to see spend their time at his saloon. So she puts on a smile and forces a laugh for the sake of Maggie and Harden. Maggie all but drags her over to Billy, announcing to the whole saloon that she's back. She feels people pat her on the shoulder and greet her with enthusiasm. Gob looks up from behind the counter, his eyes lighting up when he sees her. She grins at him, wanting to tell him about meeting Carol and to let him know that she'll get him back to Underworld, no matter the cost.

"Well, I'll be!" Billy says, slamming his Nuka-Cola on the bar. He opens his arms to hug her and she laughs into his shoulder. "How're you doin', darlin'?"

"Just fine, Billy," she says warmly, returning the embrace. "You and Maggie been okay?"

"Just peachy, darlin'! She's missed you coming over to read to her and Harden with me, so I've had to do all of the voices by myself," he answers.

"He's not very good at it," Maggie says and Billy laughs, ruffling her hair.

"Cheeky brat," he says affectionately.

"We'll sure have to remedy that, won't we?" she says. Maggie and Harden nod vigorously. Suddenly the saloon becomes very quiet, all of the chatter freezing and turning the air glacially cold.

"Well, if it isn't the cheery cherub?" Moriarty says beside her ear and it takes all of her willpower not to jump into Billy and risk knocking him over.

"Hello, Moriarty," she says coolly. He grins nastily and says,

"I see you've brought home your dad and another pet ghoul." She turns to see James and Charon standing in the bar. Everyone's eyes move to fix on Charon warily. Gob is the only one to show any sort of cheer.

"Charon!" he calls, waving. "It's good to see you! You with Sunshine now?" The way he enunciates the last sentence seems to give everyone pause and causes some of the tension to bleed out of the room. Charon nods and everyone seems to take that as a good sign. They go back, albeit a little more subdued, to carousing and cheering.

"They make handy slaves, don't they?" Moriarty breathes into her ear and she bristles. "Strong and hardy and just broken enough to not fight back."

"He's not my slave," she hisses. He laughs and she could slap him.

"Of course not. You don't believe in that sort of thing, do you? Now tell me, cherub," and at this, he presses his lips to her ear. "What else would you use that rotting sack of meat for?" She places her hand on his shoulder to push him away from her.

"Get away from me," she growls. "He's my _friend_." Moriarty laughs-God, how she hates that sound- and calls,

"Gob! Get everyone another round of drinks to celebrate the return of Megaton's newest resident hero!" Gob nods and goes to fetch a tray and more glasses. Moriarty leans over to whisper, "I'll add it to your tab."

"Ass," she fumes as he leaves, going to help Gob with the drinks.

"Hey, kid," Gob says as she helps pull some glasses from underneath the bar. "It's good to see you back."

"It's good to be back," she says warmly, setting the glasses on one of the trays Gob set on the bar. She hears Gob pop open a bottle of whiskey and stands back as he pours it into the glasses, some of it sloshing onto the freshly clean counter.

"So, I see you went to Underworld," he says, motioning toward Charon.

"Yep. I met Carol and Greta too!" A look of pain shoots over Gob's ruined features.

"Christ, you didn't tell them about me, did you?" Sunshine winces at his tone of voice.

"All I said was that you got work in a bar." Gob snorts and she leans in to whisper, "When he sobers up, I'm going to talk to Moriarty about letting me pay off your debt. That sack of shit loves money almost as much as he loves himself."

"He'll bleed you dry or worse, kid," Gob whispers back. "But thanks anyway." He grasps her shoulder firmly before walking out from behind the bar with a tray of drinks. Unhappily, she picks up the second tray and helps Gob deliver the drinks to everyone. It's hard to keep a smile plastered on her face but she manages, even when Jericho starts another round of cursing when she accidentally spills his drink on him.

"Here, Jericho. You can have mine," Billy says, sliding it over to him and giving Sunshine a conspiratorial wink. She mouths her thanks before scurrying off to sit with Charon and her father.

"Well, you sure are popular," James says. "Although I suppose anyone who disarmed their resident nuclear bomb would be deserving of such admiration." She looks toward Charon, who shakes his head.

"I didn't tell him," he says. James turns on his barstool to look at her.

"That was a very dangerous thing you did," he says sternly and she winces, preparing herself for the inevitable scolding. "You could have blown Megaton up anyway and then where would you be, hmm?"

"Dead," she says in a quiet voice, kicking at the scrap metal floor of the saloon. Her father places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a tight squeeze.

"You're a good person and it shows," he says. She looks up from the floor into eyes that match her own. "That was a very brave and kind thing you did for these people, dangerous or not. I'm very proud of you, sweetie." A grin breaks over her face and lights up her tired and dirty features.

"Thanks, dad," she says. He nods before releasing her.

"Try not to do anything else that dangerous for a while, okay? I don't think your old man's heart can take the strain." He holds up his shot glass and says loudly, "Cheers!" Everyone echoes his sentiment drunkenly in response. He gives his daughter lopsided grin before setting his glass back on the counter.

* * *

Night has fallen over Megaton and the cool air is a pleasant respite from the brutal sunlight. Sunshine sits outside of her house with Dogmeat looking up at the faint outline of the stars. Her father is asleep in her room and she left him to his rest. She is too tired to continue carousing with Megaton's citizens but not tired enough to sleep. She hears the door to her house open.

"Hey kid," Charon says. She looks up the ghoul.

"Can't sleep?" she asks, motioning to the chair next to her. The scene is oddly reminiscent of that first time she asked him to sit down with her in Carol's Place. He takes a seat next to her.

"Not tired yet," he says. "You?" She nods.

"About the same." She doesn't mention that between the three of them there aren't enough beds to sleep on. She'd talk to Moira about moving another bed in the house tomorrow. She's sure the woman could scavenge one from somewhere-the woman was a practical genius when it came to scavenging. Charon nods absently. He watches her look up at the sky with the dim lights of Megaton casting strange and beautiful shadows on her face.

"I don't think I've ever thanked you," she says finally after a long and quiet moment of sitting together. "For helping me so much."

"No need. Just part of my contract," he grunts. Sunshine looks down from the sky at her hands clasped tightly in her lap.

"Somehow I knew you'd say that," she says almost sadly, and Charon finds himself at loss for words because those words have, for whatever reason, been dammed in his throat. She smiles at him before standing. "Regardless, thank you again. You, uh," and at this, she seems to be the one at a loss for words. She places her hand on his shoulder and, after hesitating a moment, leans down. Charon leans his face up almost expectantly, almost anticipating the feel of smooth lips against his cracked ones. She hesitates and he freezes like a statue that the sculptor would cease working on if one thing wasn't to her liking. She stares into his eyes and tries to discern his emotions behind the milky film. He slows his breathing, not moving and not saying anything. She bites her lip before pulling back from him entirely, her hand cupping his cheek.

"You mean a lot to me," she decides on saying. _Coward. _"You're my best friend." He nods, leaning into her hand almost drunkenly.

"You are my employer and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe," he answers softly. She gives him a weak sort of smile that he can't bring himself to mirror and she flees, leaving everything she wanted to say hanging unspoken between them. She enters her house and shuts the door behind her with a loud slam. Leaning back against the door, she closes her eyes as she brings a hand to her lips.

"Coward," she says against her fingers.


	24. Failed Negotiations

Chapter Twenty-Four: Failed Negotiations

Charon walks back into the house a couple of hours later to see Sunshine asleep against her bookcase with her worn and tattered copy of _Paradise Lost_ in her hands. She looks small, slumped against the bookshelf like that. He looks up the stairs to the spare bedroom where a lone couch waited. She had given her father the bed and saved the couch for him. He smiles before bending down to pick her up. The book falls from her hand and her Mr. Handy, which had been given the ridiculous name of 'Wadsworth', hovers over it before picking it up with a mechanical claw to place it back on the bookshelf.

"Very good, sir," he titters. "Madam is awful about making messes. The only time this house stays clean is when she is gone." Charon snorts as he pulls the girl into his arms and against his chest.

She grumbles in her sleep and buries her face in the crook of his neck. Silently and carefully he carries her up the stairs. James leans against the doorway to her room and Charon doesn't notice him until he speaks.

"You can bring her in here. She deserves to sleep in her own bed." Charon nods and walks toward her bedroom. James moves out of the way to allow him passage through the narrow doorway. He walks up to her sheetless bed and remembers the pure exhilaration she expressed at the sheets in Tenpenny Tower. He ruefully chastises himself for not thinking of stealing a set for her. He pulls the threadbare blanket back and lays her down, pulling it back over her. She mumbles in her sleep before shifting in a more comfortable position. He sees her hands reaching out toward him in her sleep and, on impulse, he kneels down and grabs them.

They're tiny and frail like if he squeezed too hard he would turn them into dust. They look out of place in his large ruined hands like an old painting against scrap metal walls. He brings them up to his face and rests his cheek against them, his lips just barely brushing her knuckles.

"You care about her a lot, don't you?" James' voice startles him out of his revere. He guiltily jerks away from her, dropping her hands on the mattress. They curl in her blanket in response to the loss of his grip.

"She is my employer," he says simply. James shakes his head.

"How old are you exactly, Charon?" he asks without a hint of malice in his voice. Charon gazes at Sunshine's sleeping form ruefully.

"Old enough to know better."

* * *

Sunshine leaves the house before the sun rises the next morning, sneaking past her father and Charon in order to avoid conversation. She isn't in the mood for conversation. She's feeling jittery and restless. She is in a mood where a large number of people would be more of a bother than a blessing. She walks up the rickety trail to the water treatment plant to help Walter sort through some scrap metal. He doesn't talk very much, which suits Sunshine just fine right about now.

She walks into the water treatment plant and Walter grunts in response. She smiles, setting a bulging pack of scrap metal in front of him and the two of them begin sorting through the bag for any useable pieces. She eyes Walter as they work and says,

"You know, I've been thinking." He grunts for her to continue while setting aside some decent scrap metal in a pile next to him. "I went to Tenpenny Tower and they had hot, running water. You interested in getting that here for the public showers?" He pauses, relighting the cigarette that had gone out, and mumbles,

"You can do that?"

"I'm pretty sure." He thinks about it for a moment and nods his assent.

Charon and her father find her at the water treatment plant a couple of hours later grimy and slick with sweat, turning wrenches on a mammoth water heater built from scrap metal. She had shrugged out of the top part of her vault suit, tying the arms of it around her waist and staining the white of her under-shirt black with grease as she worked. An unlit cigarette hangs from her mouth, a gift from Walter. She had pulled her hair back into a short ponytail and her dad says,

"You've let your hair grow out! I haven't seen you with hair this long since you were a child!" She looks up from her work to grin at him lopsidedly and grease marks across her face accent her childlike features.

"I'd forgotten what a pain long hair is," she admits. "I'm thinking about hacking it all off again." She turns a wrench in the newly built water heater and it kicks to life with a muted buzz. She grins again and stands, wiping her hands on her shirt.

"Let it run for a while and Megaton should get hot water," she says to Walter, removing the cigarette. He grunts something that sounds like 'thanks' and she looks toward Charon and her father. "You guys need anything?"

"Yes. Sweetheart," James starts and the tone of his voice gives her pause. It is strained as though he is about to ask her to do something he knew she didn't want to do. "This visit to Megaton has been lovely. But I need to get to Rivet City." She nods forlornly.

"Sure. Just give me a couple of more hours to get ready and we can leave, okay?" He nods and snakes an arm around her shoulders to hug her tightly.

"Thank you, sweetie," he says, pressing a kiss to her temple. Charon can tell her smile is forced but he doesn't comment on it. She nods to Charon and leaves. Not knowing what else to do, he follows her out. She stops by the public bathrooms and says in a quiet voice,

"You want the first shower?" He shakes his head and waits for her as she washes the grease from her body. The water didn't stay as hot for as long as the showers in Tenpenny Tower but it is still better than the freezing ice needles that dominated the showers before. She sighs and thinks that the thing she missed the most about the Vault is the never-ending supply of hot water for showers.

She stops by The Craterside Supply to speak to the proprietor, crazy Moira Brown. She tells her about Rivet City's history and apologizes for not getting more work done researching the book the woman was writing. She shushes her and Sunshine pays for the supplies they will need, ammo and food and Radaway.

She doesn't talk to, or look at, Charon more than necessary.

They make their way back to her house in silence and she stops by the door.

"I have some unfinished business to take care of," she says with a loathing glance at Moriarty's Saloon. "I'll be right back."

"I shall wait here until you return for me," he says a little too coldly, strictly business. He notices the slight way she winces but doesn't comment on it. She turns to leave and he finds himself saying,

"Be careful. That place is not safe." She nods determinedly and marches toward the saloon with a purpose in her step.

This early in the morning the saloon is empty save for its inhabitants. Nova all but tackles her when she enters.

"Hey, sweetie!" she says. "I heard you got into town last night. Sorry I couldn't say hi. I was booked for the night."

"Nova," Sunshine says warmly, returning the embrace. "How have you been?"

"The usual," she says in an off-hand way but Sunshine feels the tension of her shoulders. "Busy spreading my legs for any wasteland asshole with caps to spare, thanks to Colin."

"Speaking of him," Sunshine says with thinly laced disgust coloring her voice. "I need to talk to him."

"About what, lassy?" an equally disgusted voice rings out from the stairs. Nova winces and Sunshine pulls the woman behind her instinctively. Moriarty snorts.

"About Gob and Nova," she replies. "I'd like to buy them from you." Moriarty's snort turns into a full-blown laugh.

"Oh, would you now?" he demands. Nova's grip tightens on her arm.

"Sunshine, don't," she pleads.

"You couldn't afford it, kid."

"I have plenty of caps," Sunshine answers. "We could negotiate." Moriarty's eyes light up with a sinister sort of glee.

"Negotiate, huh?" he says and he seems to slither down the stairs to stand next to her. Her back hits the bar as she attempts to further the distance between them. "Nova owes me ten-thousand caps."

"And that number just keeps on getting bigger," Nova says sourly.

"The zombie owes me three times that much," he says, ignoring Nova. "Now, I don't think you have that sort of chump change lying around, do you?"

"I can make payments," she says. "I'm good at scavenging." Moriarty laughs again.

"Of course, this figure of some forty-thousand caps is _before _interest." Sunshine scowls, her hands gripping the bar until they are white knuckled. "Of course, we _could _negotiate."

"Name your price," Sunshine says boldly, despite Nova shaking her head from side to side vigorously.

"Well," Moriarty says in a silken smooth voice that puts Sunshine on edge. He doesn't say anything further, instead toying with the zipper of her Vault suit.

"Jesus, Colin," Nova says. He closes the distance between them and tugs it down with a delighted hiss, his fingers trailing over the thin material of her undershirt.

Her hand flies out to slap his cheek before she realizes it and he stumbles away from her with a grunt. He laughs but it is a hollow sound

"You have a lot of spunk, kid," he says, his hand rubbing his red cheek. He grasps her chin firmly. "I like that, and that's one of the reasons I'm going to let you walk out of here without beating you black and blue."

"What about the negotiation?" she demands in a quivering voice. A nasty grin breaks over his face as he replies,

"I've already made my offer. Now get out of here." He lets go of her chin and she rubs it, partly to sooth the indentations his fingernails left and partly to rid herself of the feeling of him touching her.

"You're awful," she whispers. "A selfish and filthy human being." He gives her a crooked grin.

"And you're a little saint," he says mockingly. "You know what your problem is, kid? It's that you care too much. That'll be the death of you unless you either change your attitude or get somebody more ruthless to take you under their wing. I've said it before and I'll say it again-I could be that wing you take shelter under." She glares at him. He shakes his head before stepping away from her entirely.

"Go on, kid. Run on back to daddy and your pet ghoul." She growls, pushing past him to exit the saloon. She stops when she feels Nova's hand gently grasp her arm.

"I'm sorry," she says. Nova shakes her head and gives her a weak smile.

"Thanks anyway, kid. It was real sweet of you."

"I'll figure out a way. I promise," she vows before leaving Nova behind with only Moriarty's damned laughter for company.

Charon looks up from his shotgun as the door slams open, rattling on its hinges. Sunshine looks frazzled and angry, taking deep breaths to calm herself. James looks up from maintaining his 10mm pistol.

"Sweetie? Is everything all right?" She lets out a deep breath and forces a smile. Charon watches the uneven and sporadic rise and fall of her chest, his eyes burning a trail following her half undone zipper.

"Yeah. I'm just sick of this place already," she answers. "We'd better not keep Rivet City waiting." James smiles.

"That's my girl." She catches Charon's gaze for a long moment and her mouth twitches like she wants to say something.

But she turns away and the moment is lost.

* * *

They make camp underneath a crumbling overpass as the sun makes its lazy way across the sky. Sunshine's radio plays music but despite the low volume it seems to echo across the wasteland. Dogmeat sprawls at Sunshine's feet, panting heavily. They just survived another Talon Company ambush and were all a little worse for wear. Charon plops down with a hiss and glares at his arm. He'd gotten grazed, nothing too serious, but damned if it didn't hurt like hell.

"You're hurt! When did you get hurt? Let me see," Sunshine demands, scooting closer to him. He snorts.

"I think that's the most you've said to me all day," he grumbles. She shoots him a guilty look before pulling his torn armor back.

"I've been a little preoccupied," she mutters, tilting her head to get a better look at the wound. He scoffs again.

"I've had more practice giving someone the cold shoulder, kid. I could go _for days _without saying a single word to you," he threatens but nonetheless allows her to examine his wound. She huffs.

"Would it help if I said I was sorry?" She hisses as blood begins to seep out of the wound. "That looks like it hurts. We better get you patched up."

"I don't like being ignored," he says, staring up at the dimming sky as she begins cleaning his wound. "If I've done something to displease you, you should let me know." James wisely decides not to get involved instead choosing to keep watch and pretend he can't hear anything.

"You thought I was mad at you?" she asks as Three Dog's voice comes over the radio. (_Hey, there children! Don't feed the yao guai!_) "No, nothing like that."

"Then what?" he growls as she applies rubbing alcohol to the wound. "I've been little more than a sentient doorstop to you all day."

"I," she says, her voice trailing off. She shrugs out of her pack to pull out some scavenged bandages to wrap Charon's arm with. "It's nothing."

"Brahmin shit," he says.

"It's not anything you did. Pinky swear," she says, tying off the bandage. He tilts his head in an effort to catch her gaze but she averts her eyes almost like she can't bring herself to look at him. With a quiet growl his hand snakes to cup the back of her head and freeze her in place.

"Look at me," he mutters. Her green eyes shyly lift up to meet his and then he is the one frozen in place. He swallows and pushes away the wave of unease that swells in his chest at the way she looks at him. His face is inches away from hers, close enough to feel her hot breath shudder across what is left of his skin. Her gaze pierces through him sharper than any knife and deeper than any bullet. He hadn't realized how much he had craved something as simple as eye contact from her until it was missing.

"That's better," he breathes and his hand slowly moves to stroke her cheek. Teeth worry at a soft pink lip even as she tilts her head into his palm. Her chest rises and falls sporadically.

"Charon," she says and he suppresses a shudder at hearing his name fall from her lips. "Charon, I-"

"I hate to break up a touching moment, Sunshine," her father calls. "But we have a large group coming toward us and they don't look friendly." Charon growls, his hand leaving her face and reaching for his shotgun. Sunshine sighs and takes her plasma rifle in her hands.

The group is composed of mostly armed men and women in the front. Unarmed men and women trail behind them almost forlornly and Sunshine can just barely make out something shiny around their necks.

"Slavers," Charon says with a hint. "Let's see if we can't get out of here without a fight." The man leading them looks familiar against the horizon. An angry scowl turns into a grin the closer they get to the three of them.

"Morning, Sunshine," he calls, lifting a strange looking gun in greeting. "Remember me?"

* * *

I wanted to let you guys know that a made a playlist for this story like a pretentious nerd. If you're interested in what I listen to when I crank out chapters, the playlist is here: http:/ pervymonk. tumblr. com/ post/ 18948137821/ days-filled-with-fiery-sunshine


	25. Running Hot

Chapter Twenty-Five: Running Hot

"Sister," Sunshine says calmly as if she is greeting an old friend. But her legs shake and her brain is telling her to run as fast as she can manage. "How's the nose?" He scowls and she can see where his nose sits unevenly on his face, misaligned with the rest of his features.

"What do you want?" her father interjects sharply. "What business do you have with us?"

"Not with you," Sister says. He motions toward Sunshine with that strange gun. "Her."

"It's best if you consider your business concluded," Charon growls. Sister grins lopsidedly.

"There's far more of us than there are of you. It'd be in _your _best interest to stay out of our business," he replies.

"What do you want?" Sunshine interrupts, keeping an eye on that strange gun he keeps aimed at her. Charon counts the group. It isn't as large as he had previously thought. The bulk of it is mainly captured slaves led by five or six slavers. He may be able to handle it and he would have tried had it not been for Sunshine standing directly in their line of fire. He growls and bares his teeth at them which makes some of the slaves that linger behind them flinch.

"There's a party in Paradise Falls, kid," Sister says. "And you're invited." The next few moments are a blur. Charon explodes from behind her with his shotgun and she sees one of the slavers fall to the ground with a large gaping hole in his chest. She feels arms wrap around her waist and pull her down behind a large and crumbling pillar of the overpass.

"Stay still, sweetheart. Let's wait for them to reload," her father says softly. She struggles to look over the broken concrete to see Charon. The slavers, having lost sight of her, are focusing all of their attention on him.

"Charon!" she hisses. "They're going to kill him!"

"Sunshine, he can handle himself," her father begins but she pushes away from their temporary shelter with her rifle clenched in her hands. Her father swears and comes out after her, shooting at the slavers aiming at Sunshine. She aims and fires a blast of plasma at the slaver woman closest to Charon. She crumples into a pile of green goo and she looks for the next on to take out.

"Sunshine, look out!" she hears Charon yell and she stumbles back from the force of being hit with a strange blow. She can hear Charon and her father but their voices sound muted somehow. It's as though she is underwater.

"Can you hear me, kid?" Sister's voice rings through the murky haze that seems to cover her.

"Yes," she answers dully. She sees him holding that strange gun and a self-satisfied smirk plays on his features but she can't bring herself to feel angry about it.

"Good," he breathes, lowering the gun. "I want you to drop that pretty rifle of yours." The plasma rifle clatters to her feet and she doesn't give it a second thought. "That's a good girl."

She hears hear name called again in a voice that means something to her but she can't remember why it is so important. Her brow furrows and she turns her head to follow the sound.

"No, no," Sister chides and her gaze is fixed back on him. "Come over to me." She takes a step forward and then another. "That's a good girl."

Charon wrestles one of the slavers off of him. He punches the man in the face, causing him to drop the slave collar he tried to wrap around Charon's neck. He sees Sunshine, with her shoulders slumped, walking toward Sister like a mindless drone. He gives a quick look to James, who nods, and takes out a slaver advancing on him with a strangled curse.

"Sunshine!" he yells again, his voice hoarse and grating. She stops, her head tilting toward the sound of his voice again. "Sunshine, look at me!" She turns her head completely to look at him. Her eyes are flat and lifeless, completely devoid of the spark that he had grown so fond of seeing.

"Charon?" she asks, her mouth forming his name as though it were unfamiliar. He nods and a beastly grin breaks over his face.

"That's right. Sunshine-" he starts but is cut off by a forceful blow to the back of his head. He groans as he hits the dirt ace first and feels a pointed book kick him over on his back.

It is like a dam has broken behind Sunshine's eyes. What had looked cold and lifeless now has a familiar spark, causing Sister to swear. A wave a cold recognition washes over her and she is no longer mesmerized by Sister.

"Charon!" Sister is next to her in seconds and his fist wraps in her hair. She gives a soft whimper of pain as she struggles to get away from him.

"Not so fast," he says.

"Let go of me," she growls, clawing at his hands and tugging to get away from him. She can feel her hair pulling away from her scalp painfully but she doesn't pay it any mind. All she can focus on is getting to Charon and her father. She can see the slavers descend on the two men like starving beasts through her watery eyes.

"Don't waste the ammunition," Sister calls. "Leave 'em for the yao guai." She kicks and screams, landing a few lucky blows on Sister. He scowls and she feels a sharp pain stab her in the neck. She gives a weak whimper as her vision starts to swim. She shakes her head to clear it and keeps struggling to get to Charon and her father. She wrenches away from Sister leaving him holding a handful of her hair. She stumbles and falls. The ground swims unevenly below her and she works to pull herself up.

"Damn, but aren't you persistent?" Sister says, his hand fisting in the back of her Vault suit. "Just like in Rivet City. Good thing there are people who'll pay extra for that."

"Charon," falls from her lips pitifully. She can just make out two familiar blurs in her vision and hears his voice float in and out of her hearing.

"That ghoul must be pretty important to you. Huh. You're a weird one, I'll give you that." A deep chuckle drowns out Charon's voice. "You're a pain in the ass." Her eyelids droop and her body feels heavy in Sister's grip.

She fights to stay awake, shaking her head furiously to chase away the fatigue. Sunshine tries to hold on to Charon's voice but that damned chuckling keeps chasing it away.

"Night night, kid."

* * *

Charon growls as he tugs at his bonds and focuses on the feeling of the rope digging into his already ruined wrists.

"Son of a bitch," he swears, tugging harder. The slavers tied James and Charon together, back to back and liberated them of their weapons. They were out in the open, exposed and easy pickings for any wasteland asshole or monster that decided to walk by.

He hadn't protected her.

The slavers came for her and they got her despite everything he did to prevent it. He grits his teeth and clenches and unclenches his hands as he keeps trying to loosen the ropes that bind them. He had failed his employer and the fact that it was _her _he failed hurt worse than all the years of his conditioning. He takes in a shuddering breath as he thinks of that dead look in her eyes when Sister fired that gun at her, of the way she shambled toward him and hardly recognized Charon when he called out her name.

He'd get her back, contract or not.

"Could you stop fidgeting so much?" James asks from behind his back. "I'd hate to cut you to shreds when it's the rope I'm trying to destroy." Charon stills his hands and feels James carefully cutting at their bonds. He hadn't noticed it before in his struggle to loosen his ropes.

"How'd you get that past them?" he grunts. James chuckles.

"I can be sly when I need to be," he says. Charon grunts and tries to keep still, ignoring the throbbing that has started in his head. Internally he can hear a voice that isn't his screaming about protecting the contract holder. _Get up get up get up go! The contract holder is your responsibility! Protect their life even if it costs you yours!_

"Don't you think I know that?" he murmurs irritably.

Even after all of this time, some things just don't fade away.

"We may be here awhile," James says, grunting from the exertion of having to use hands he can't see. "Why don't we talk to make the time go by faster?"

"I ain't the talkin' type," Charon mumbles.

"You are with Sunshine," James says.

"She's different. She is my employer."

"You throw that word around quite a bit. Employer. What does that entail, exactly?" James grunts and shifts, muttering a 'damn, almost' as he continues to saw through the ropes.

"She holds my contract and so she is my employer," he says dully as though he had recited this particular litany a million times. James freezes.

"Your contract?" he says. "Good God, I didn't think there were any of you left."

"Yeah, well, here I am," Charon says irritably.

"That certainly puts your comment about being 'old enough to know better' into perspective," James says awkwardly. Charon groans.

"Just cut the ropes." He hears the tell-tale sawing sound and feels the ropes breaking loose from their hands one by one. Soon, his hands are free and itching for his shotgun. He scowls as he looks toward the direction the slavers went.

"We'll have to scavenge some weapons," James says as he stands up, rubbing his wrists. "We can probably steal some hapless raider's along the way." Charon nods and moves to follow the slavers. James stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

"I am sorry," he says, gesturing to nowhere with his hand. "That this happened to you."

"What? Ghoulification?" he asks although he knows that isn't what the other man meant. James shakes his head.

"The contract. I," and at this he pauses. "I read pre-war studies of what your particular kind of conditioning entailed."

"You didn't have anything to do with it," Charon says. He catches James' gaze, the same green eyes that he had grown so fond of seeing underneath curly blonde hair. He shakes his head. "It was over and done with long before you were even born." He shrugs James' hand off.

"Come on," Charon says, less to reassure the other man and more to keep his skeletons buried. "We need to go after her. We're losing daylight." He moves to follow the slaver's trail and James' voice stops him in his tracks again.

"It's not just the contract, is it?" he murmurs softly. His voice is full of a hope and a knowledge that shakes Charon to his core. "You really do care about my little girl, don't you?"

Unable to speak past the tightness in throat he simply nods.

* * *

Sunshine moans, a weak hand reaching up to clutch at her head.

"Well, well, look who's awake," she hears a harsh voice past the fog in her head. "We got you a new necklace. Do you like it?"

"It's lovely," she says bitterly, her hand trailing down to feel the slave collar clamped tight around her neck. "You shouldn't have. Really." Sister snorts and pokes at the weak campfire as though he could will it to flare up. The night air is cold and the stars in the sky only remind her that whatever Sister had given her knocked her out for the entire day. The slaves are huddled in a group around a dying fire for warmth. The slavers numbers have been cut in half from their battle with her group. Why haven't they tried to run? Her eyes cut across the perimeter and she sees another small group of headless bodies next to a pile of wasteland rocks. Her stomach turns and she closes her eyes in an effort to fight of the nausea that is threatening to spill over her mouth.

It spills over anyway, despite her best efforts, and her gut churns with hate at Sister's dull laughter.

"Don't worry, kid," he says, hand clasped on her shoulder and a bottle of dirty water held out to her. "You get used to it. The headless bodies, I mean." She glares at him, not accepting the olive branch he offered. He shrugs.

"Your loss," he says before unscrewing the cap and taking a deep swig of water. "Might be the last drink you would've gotten in days."

"All of these people," she hisses. "Why?"

"They drew the short end of the stick, kid. It's nothing personal; strictly business," he says. Eyeing her up and down, he adds, "For you, it's personal. You ruined my good looks."

"Yeah, because you were so gorgeous to begin with," she grumbles. To her surprise, he laughs and ruffles her hair. It is a gesture that she is familiar with, even fond of, but coming from Sister it is nothing more than condescending. She growls and knocks his hand away.

"I can see why he wants you," Sister says.

"Who?" He shrugs, watching another slave, a man, try to sneak past the perimeter.

"Don't do it!" Sunshine yells desperately, lunging to get to the person. Sister's arm wraps around her waist to keep her still. A loud, awful beeping fills the air like a funeral dirge and the man doesn't make it back through the perimeter in time. There are gleeful yells from the other slavers and cries of collecting on bets, but Sister just shakes his head.

"We have a buyer lined up for you. I don't know the details. But when your name came up for bounty I volunteered. I return favors, kid."

"Why tell me this?" she asks, her hands reaching up to run across the slave collar clinging tightly to her neck. He eyes her for a second before taking another deep swig of dirty water.

"You're my last capture. I'm not one for keeping secrets. If I have a grudge against you, I let you know. If you're in for hell when I get you to your new owner, well, you've earned it by being a stupid kid."

"I didn't know you cared," she says, her voice deflated and lacking the venomous bite she would have liked. He shrugs again, offering her the rest of the water.

"Drink up, kid. If you die, I don't get paid."

* * *

I am so sorry for the delay, you guys. I'm a little ashamed at how long this took. It's the end of the semester so I've had mountains of unfun homework. :/ I'll try to be quicker next time. As always, thanks for reading!


	26. Idle

Chapter Twenty-Six: Idle

James' hands clutch the rifle he pilfered from a dead raider, white knuckled and covered in blood. Charon shifts the assault rifle he scavenged. It's a piece of shit but it'll have to do until they find the slaver group that took Sunshine. He tries not to think of the first time he saw her shoot a gun, an assault rifle in little better shape than this one.

"_That's the last clip."_

"_Where'd you get that piece of shit? Did you pry off the cold dead hands of a super mutant?"_

He sighs, shifting the gun on his back again. He can't get comfortable, can't make it feel right.

The group is large and fairly easy to track. Little to no effort had been made by the slavers to cover their trail. They probably didn't realize that Charon and James were coming for them.

Good. It'd be that much more satisfying when Charon filled them full of bullets.

"What's on your mind?" James asks quietly; Charon snorts.

"Silence isn't golden where you are concerned, is it?"

"It isn't that," James says. "You just look like you could use a friend." Charon's eyes dart over to him. James is reminded of a nervous child.

"She's the same way," he says after an eternity. "Heh. Always lookin' to be someone's friend, even when she's better off just leaving them alone."

"Thinking of anyone in particular?" James asks. Charon nods and sets his eyes toward the horizon.

"Yeah. Someone you might know."

* * *

"Most of these people are injured," Sunshine says as the group stops for a rest. Sister sighs.

"You've said that three times this morning."

"They need medical attention," she persists, eyeing a woman supporting an injured man. She can smell the infection in his leg all the way from where she stands.

"They'll either survive or they won't. Why the hell do you care so much?" Sister grumbles.

"You'll make more money if more of them survive," she says nonchalantly. Sister snorts.

"You and I both know that isn't why you're so gung-ho to help them,'" he says. "But if it'll get you to shut up, you can attend to them."

"Sister," another slaver interjects sharply. "Our orders are to keep her away from the general population." He eyes Sunshine warily. "Our reports said she's crafty."

"And that a lot of that craft came from that ghoul she ran around with," Sister says. Sunshine's stomach flops at the mention of Charon and tears threaten to spill from her eyes.

_Man up, kid._

_I'm alive. You're alive. The dog's alive. And so is your dad._

_Sunshine!_

They weren't dead. Charon and her father were too strong to let the wasteland take them out. _They had to be. _She doesn't know what she would do if they died.

"We left him to rot, along with anyone else who'd bother enough to come after her. And I want her to shut up. If bandaging up a few slaves who are going to die anyway accomplishes that then so be it." Sister looks at Sunshine, motioning sharply to the group of slaves. "Go on." She rushes the couple supporting each other. They flinch away from her as she approaches.

"I'm here to help," she says gently. The woman eyes her warily, placing her body in between Sunshine and the man. More like 'the boy' if Sunshine were completely honest. He looked maybe three years younger than Sunshine, maybe more.

"You were with the slavers," the woman says. Sunshine wearily motions to the slave collar on her neck.

"I'm prime merchandise," she says unhappily. "I'm not in any more control of the situation than you are. Please, let me help you. I have some medical training." A dull ache starts in her chest as she remembers her father. _He's alive,_ she tells herself. They didn't get so far just to have it all end like this. "I also have some expertise with explosives, if you catch my drift," she mentions underneath her breath. The woman, after a long and hard look at Sunshine, finally nods her assent.

Sunshine helps her sit the boy on the ground and she manages to get a small campfire started. She opens the small knapsack Sister permitted her to carry to see two lone bottles of water at the bottom underneath some gauze she has scavenged. Sister had snuck her more water, stating that the rest of the slaves were expendable as long as she lived. After all, she was the one he was getting the mountain of caps for. She bares her teeth as she thinks of the callous way he said it. She opens one bottle and pours about half of it into a pot to bring it to a boil. She hands the rest to the woman who murmurs a soft and nearly intelligible thanks. As she's waiting for the water to boil she takes a closer look at the boy. All of the color has bled out from his face and his breathing is labored.

"What's your name?" she asks gently.

"Jo-Jonah," he wheezes.

"And you?" she asks the older woman.

"Anna," she says, scooting closer to the boy. "He's my brother." Sunshine nods as the water begins to come to a gently boil. She gingerly rolls the boy's pants leg up.

"Tell me about yourselves," she says, dipping a rag into the scalding water. Her hands turn red almost immediately but she makes no effort to withdraw them.

"Not much to tell," wheezes Jonah. "We lived up in The Rotten Core." At Sunshine's questioning look, Anna clarifies.

"The Sleepless Wasteland. New York City," she says. Jonah nods, sweat dripping from his brow.

"I wasn't aware the slavers of Paradise Falls made raids that far up," Sunshine says, eyeing Sister and his group.

"Neither were we," Anna says bitterly. Sunshine pulls the rag out and begins to gently clean the boy's wound.

"You've had this for a while," she says, stopping to see maggots writhing in the wound. Anna follows her gaze and makes a face, reaching over to pluck the bugs out. Sunshine grabs her wrist. "Leave them. They'll help clean the wound."

"If you say so," Anna says, clearly not convinced.

"Gross," Jonah groans. Sunshine continues cleaning the wound, careful of her little helpers.

"What is the Sleepless Wasteland like?"

"A shithole," Jonah says. "Radiation everywhere. The only real sustainable places are the metros." He gestures to her Pip-Boy. "The Vaults failed forever ago and where never really habitable to begin with."

"You had to live in the metros?" Sunshine asks with a thin layer of discomfort lining her voice. "What about ferals?" He shrugs and shifts his leg, wincing at the effort.

"What about them? They aren't the worst things we have to fight down there by far."

"Did the slavers follow you into the metros?" Sunshine asks, setting the rag back down into the water. She bites her lip. She didn't have any antiseptic and she's afraid that even if she did, it wouldn't do anything. The boy's leg is in a bad state. If she had antibiotics she may have been able to better help him but those were scarce unless one lived in a Vault. And the only still functioning Vault she could think of wouldn't let her back in, let alone give her antibiotics to save the life of a wastelander.

"No. Bastards caught us out on a supply run," Anna says. "The bastards killed Micah." She runs her hands over a worn and dull ring resting on her finger. "That's how they operate. They kill the ones who would cause the most trouble and take the weaker ones. The ones who want to live at any cost." Sunshine falls silent and dresses Jonah's wound to the best of her ability.

They left Charon and her father to die but that doesn't mean they did. At least, that is what she tells herself. She can't imagine a world without either of them.

She looks around to see the slavers occupied. They hunch over a pile of caps and worn playing cards that are nearly indistinguishable against the dirt. Her pack lies next to them looking empty and deflated. They're gambling for her possessions. The ones they've deemed worthless are scattered by group and they are the ones Sunshine deems most valuable. A book about losing paradise. A set of holotapes, one of which is the only way she can hear her mother's voice. An old and threadbare baseball cap. A piece of paper that should have long been decayed with a single distinguishable word.

These get left in the wasteland dirt when the group moves on.

Paradise Falls is a cesspool of desperation. Even before they reach the front gates of the slaver compound Sunshine can feel the hopelessness that seems to permeate the air. A slave making a break from the main compound rushes past her and none of the guards follow. She feels a sickening churn in her stomach as she waits for the inevitable explosion of his collar and the laughter of the guards.

One of Jonah's arms is slung over her shoulders and she helps Anna support him. The infection has brought about a fever and he mutters deliriously at no one. Anna's lips are fixed in a tight line and unshed tears twinkle in her eyes.

"I'll help him," Sunshine murmurs to reassure the other woman. The slavers are sure to have a doctor.

"Yeah. Thanks," Anna says but the dull tone of her voice betrays her disbelief. They stop in front of the scavenged gates of Paradise Falls. They open with a slow and torturous creaking. Sunshine's eyes are darting all over the compound, cataloguing the different buildings and the positions of the slaver's guards. She can make out a bar, an arms dealer and, with a captured breath, a clinic. One of the slavers from their group rustles them into the slave pens.

The pens are filthy and overcrowded. Sunshine looks at the inhabitants with dismay. A large majority are either sick or dying, too tired or weak to keep on living. Wordlessly, she begins to go about to help everyone she can. Sister, shaking his head, closes the gate to the pens with an echoing click.

She and Anna set Jonah down in a dark corner and lean him against the wire fence. Anna collapses next to him as his head lolls back and rests her forehead against his shoulder. Sunshine kneels in front of him.

"Jonah," she says softly. "Jonah, I'm going to help you get better. But I need you to stay with me, okay?" He chuckles.

"I don't see how," he slurs, pulling himself up on the wire fence. "Better to let me die. But I want to be on my feet if I do." Sunshine looks around to see the guards on the pens switching out.

"Damn it," she says. She feels a tug on her arm. She looks down to see a dirty hand attacked to a dirty child.

"Ma'am," the little girl says, much to the chagrin of the other children in the pen. "I think I know how to help you."

* * *

A pile of discarded possessions catches Charon's eye. His fingers clench and unclench into fists as he makes his way over to it.

"What have you found?" James asks, inspecting the burnt remains of a campfire alongside some dirty bandages. Charon stays silent, but his hand strays to the book, _Paradise Lost_, still creased from where she had been reading it. He holds it to his ruined nose to try and capture some remnant of her to no avail. He begins collecting the various holotapes, the journal entries of Sunshine's parents, and finds a weather piece of paper underneath them. His heart starts beating faster and faster as he moves to pick it up. A current of pain shoots through him but his fingers clench around the scrap of paper anyway.

The writing on it has all but faded away except for one single word: _Charon._

"It's been two hundred years since I've held this piece of paper," he breathes raggedly, the pain from his conditioning increasing by the second.

"What does it say?" James asks. Though the paper lacks words, Charon recites them as though they were written in new ink.

" 'Protect the contract holder with your life. They are your master, and you are their servant. This is a binding contract detailing the full measure of your employment: You will be the contract holder's gun, their left hand and you will obey their orders, no matter the cost. Use of physical force against you by the contract holder terminates your employment. You, Charon, will serve and protect and obey until the termination of your contract. This is your one true purpose.' " James remains silent and Charon holds the slip of paper out to him.

"Keep this for her, will you? It'd be a shame to lose it."

* * *

This chapter was so hard to get out and I don't even know why, you guys. But hopefully now that I've gotten the ball rolling for this arc the chapters will be out quicker. (Although, I'm afraid I'm a little bit predictable. Hope that doesn't bother you guys. XD)


	27. Do Your Worst

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Do Your Worst

"How?" the word tumbles from Sunshine's mouth. The little girl opens her mouth, only to be pulled away by a boy little older than she is.

"Penny!" he hisses. "What do you think you're doing, helping this mungo?"

"That man is sick!" the girl says.

"C-c-come on, Sammy," a smaller boy says, tugging at Sammy's threadbare sleeve. "Let Penny go."

"Hey, I understand," Sunshine says gently, kneeling in front of the children. They all flinch back. "You don't want to help me because I'm an adult, right?"

"Right. A mungo," Sammy says.

"Listen, how about I help you first?" she says, keeping her voice soft. Sammy scoffs.

"How?" She motions to Anna and Jonah.

"You see their collars?" she asks. Sammy squints to look at them.

"Yeah? What about them, mungo?"

"Sammy," the smaller one says, tugging on his sleeve harder.

"What, Squirrel?" he snaps, pulling the boy's hand away from his sleeve.

"The collars aren't blinking." Sunshine smiles.

"That's right." She looks from side to side and leans in as if to tell them a great secret. Despite themselves, they all lean in to hear her whisper. "I turned them off. But they haven't been able to run because Jonah is sick, see?"

"Can you turn our collars off too?" Penny breathes, her hands going up to touch the blinking red light on hers.

"I sure can."

"What's the catch?" Sammy says stubbornly, pulling Penny and Squirrel away to shield behind him.

"Nothing. I'll turn them off. If you want to help me, you can. If not, I'll figure it out. Pinky swear," she says, holding out her pinky. Sammy looks at it and Sunshine can see the gears in his head turning, trying to decide whether or not to trust her. He finally holds his pinky out and shakes hers with his.

"Don't make us regret trusting you, mungo. Get Penny's and Squirrel's first," he says. She nods and Penny pushes the smallest boy toward her. Her hands work deftly and quickly, careful not to pull the wrong wires. She holds her breath as she disables the last wire and listens for the tell-tale beeping that would mean she failed. Blessed silence is all that reaches her ears. She lets out the breath and pulls Penny over to disable her collar.

"I knew we could trust you!" she says happily. "You're the second nice mungo we've come across here."

"Sweetie, I need you to be still," she says gently, stilling her hands.

"Oh! Sorry!" Sunshine pats her on the head. "Why is your collar still blinking?"

"I can't see it because everything is set in the back of the collar," Sunshine explains. "I don't want to blow myself up." She cuts the wire that disables her collar. "There, all done!"

"What are you doing?" a rough voice says, pulling Sunshine away from the girl. Her hands clench into fists and she turns, hitting the man squarely in the chest. He grunts and Sunshine's hand throbs. His hand clenches into a fist and he swings at her. She stumbles out of the way. His hand fists in the front of her jumpsuit and he lifts her off of the ground.

"Rory!" Penny says, throwing herself at the man and hanging off of his arm. "Stop it! She's a friend! Don't cause a scene!" The slavers were already looking at them and gauging whether or not they needed to intervene. Rory lowers his arm and Sunshine bites back the cry of relief as her feet touch the ground.

"Sorry," he says. "You can't really trust anyone in here."

"No problem," she says, dusting herself off. He takes in her Vault suit and her Pip-Boy.

"They snagged you from a Vault?" he asks. "Tough luck. Must've been easy living in there."

"I haven't been in a Vault for some time," she says. "I, uh, got kicked out."

"How'd you manage that?" The slavers, seeing no reason to intervene, go back to their gambling and carousing.

"Long story," she says. "Suffice it to say my father and I are troublemakers." She kneels back down to disable Sammy's collar.

"Well," Rory says, his face breaking into a grin. "If you're as big of a troublemaker as I think you are, then you and I are going to get along just fine." She nods and stands. Looking around the pens, she goes to work doing what she can. Her heart catches in her throat at the sheer level of despair and desperation she faces in these people. Some of them are worse off than Jonah.

* * *

Night falls and Sunshine sinks to her knees, exhausted. The people here were in bad shape. Some of them had been locked in the pens so long that they may have been better off dead. Disease and sickness ran rampant through the filthy slave pens and more than one person had died before the sun had set. She looks over at the corner reserved for those who had died and to be dragged out of the pen in the morning by the slaves. She'd seen death before since fleeing the vault, but she doesn't ever think she'd get used to it. There is a hole at the bottom of the fence where the dead bodies lay.

Sunshine realizes the other slaves probably use the dead to hide the hole in order to preserve some weak glimmer of hope.

"Hey," a voice says from above her. She looks up wearily to see Rory holding a bottle of dirty water and a half eaten box of potato crisps. The children are behind him with similar wares in their arms and fresh cuts and bruises. "You okay?"

"No," she says. "But I appreciate the fact you asked. What happened?" She reaches out to touch Squirrel's face. He winces and she sees the beginnings of a black eye forming.

"They never give us enough food," Rory explains. "You have to get in fast and sometimes fight your way in. They keep us like this because they think we're little more than animals. Some days, I'm afraid they're right."

"Dear God," she says. "I don't understand. If the point is to make a profit off of enslaving people, wouldn't it make more sense to keep them healthy and well-fed?" The group sits down and Rory hands her a crushed and half empty box of potato crisps.

"It isn't about making money," Rory says, biting viciously into a withered dog steak. "They capture enough people that they don't have to worry about who survives. This is about power and fear, pure and simple. These people are evil, Sunshine."

"Anyone who makes a profit on another person's misery usually is," she says softly, bringing a chip to her mouth. She sees Penny and Sammy sneaking more food to Squirrel. Her stomach clenches in response.

"Here," she says gently, holding out her box of chips. "Eat as much as you want. All of you." They look at her for a long moment before Sammy snatches the box out of her hand. He splits it up between Penny and Squirrel, leaving none for himself. Rory hands her a bit of his steak.

"Here," he says. "You can't survive on goodness alone, kid." She nods and gingerly eats it.

"They sure like to party here, don't they?" she asks over the din of the loud music and crude yelling. He nods.

"Yeah. They all usually make their way to the bar this time of night. Leaves us unguarded but we can't really get anywhere other than around the compound. They have a tendency to beat those of us who leave this cage senseless and then lock us in The Box."

"Hmm," she says, eyes moving between the hole in the fence and the clinic. "How long do the slavers keep this up?" Rory lifts the steak to his lips to eat but then lowers it again.

"I know what you're thinking," he says. "Kid, you'll get caught, sure as lack of rain."

"I'll be quick about it," she says, standing up. "Don't worry." At his worried look, she says softly, "These people need medical supplies. I'll be careful. Pinky swear."

* * *

"God damn it," Charon swears. "That place is better protected than Tenpenny Tower." The two men set up camp next to a crumbling overpass close to Paradise Falls. He hands the binoculars to James. James looks through them and swears.

"That place is a damned fortress."

"Yeah," Charon says, grabbing his assault rifle from beside him. He stands up, cracking his neck. "Come on. We don't have much time."

"You're planning on just marching in there?" James asks incredulously, falling into step beside him. Charon glares at him.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"Yeah, we wait for an opening." Charon stops, turning and looming over James.

"I'm not leaving her in there," he growls.

"I want her back as much as you do," he snaps. "She's my little girl. I don't want to imagine the kinds of things that could happen to her." Charon glares at James before glaring over at Paradise Falls. He thinks about what James said and shakes his head.

"No," he says. "I'm getting her out, and I'm getting her tonight." He turns to leve and James grabs his arm.

"Listen to me," he says. "As much as we both want to get her away from this vile place, we have to wait for an opening. If we storm the gates like big damn heroes, we _will die._ And then what would become of Catherine?" Charon grumbles and holsters his assault rifle.

Damned bastard is right.

He growls in the back of his throat and makes his way back to his bedroll. He plops down on it and rests his elbows on his knees, trying not to glower.

"How long do we wait for an opening?" he asks. James sighs, running a hand through his graying hair.

"As long as it takes." Charon shakes his head.

"Not good enough. I'm giving it three days and I'm going down after her, with or without you." James nods, sitting at his bedroll across the campfire from Charon. He sighs, burying his face in his hands. Charon feels a surge of guilt. He knows how hard this is on him. How hard it is to wait while Sunshine endures God knows what. His ruined lips pull back into a snarl.

He is going to kill everyone of those slaver bastards.

* * *

Sunshine holds her breath as she slips through the hole in the fence. She is laying flat on the ground and easing her way through the hole. Her hair drags through the dried blood that clumps the dirt. Her eyes meet those of a corpse, a blonde haired boy no older than her who had been handsome in life, and she fights off a wave of nausea. She slips out of the pen and presses herself up against a dark wall. She has never been good at sneaking. Whenever she ran away from Butch and his friends, they always found her.

She hopes she can keep from being found this time.

Rory and the kids look at her from the slave pens. Penny holds the wire grating of the pen and Squirrel holds on to her. Sammy and Rory stand behind them with their arms crossed. She gives them a wave and what she hopes is a reassuring smile before continuing on.

She sees the slavers yelling and dancing, hanging off of each other. It looks like the whole camp is there and her heart drops through her stomach at how many of them there are. They are raucous in their celebrations and Sunshine plans to use the nose to cover her footsteps. She watches them as she makes her way to the clinic she saw earlier. Sister sits at a table by himself, oddly out of place in his surroundings. He nurses a drink and doesn't pay any mind to the women who try to gather his attention. He looks up and Sunshine rounds a corner.

Dogs begin barking in earnest and she comes face to face with a pen full of them.

"Shit shit shit," she says, scrambling for a place to hide. She hears footsteps as she slides underneath what used to be an old bus seat. Sister stands, holding his drink and looking around. She brings her hand to her mouth and bites down on it to stifle a squeak as he moves closer to her hiding place. He shakes his head, muttering about needing to lay off the jet, and kneels in front of the dog pens. Sunshine notes with anger that they are far bigger than what was afforded to the captured slaves.

"Hey," Sister slurs. "Shut the fuck up." All of them but one cease barking. He moves to that one. "You. You're her dog. Dogmeat." He reaches through the grating to pet him. Dogmeat growls and bites his hand. Sister swears, yanking his hand away and slapping Dogmeat. Sunshine whimpers, biting down harder on her hand.

"Heh. I bet she'd bite me too if I tried to pet her. The both of you are two peas in the same miserable pod." Sister shakes his head. "Well, we'll either break the two of you or put you down. Doesn't make any difference to me." He stands, stumbling back to Sunshine's position and catching himself on the bus seat. He curses, pushing himself up.

"Stay quiet," he snarls to the dogs before taking another swig of his drink and making his way back to his seat. Sunshine pulls her hand from her mouth and makes an effort to slow her trembling. She slowly inches out from underneath the seat. The dogs all stay quiet except Dogmeat. He gives a small yip. She moves over to him.

"Hey boy," she says, reaching through the gate to pet him. He nuzzles her hand, licking her fingers. "This is an awful mess, isn't it? I am so, so sorry." She scratches him behind the ears. "I'm going to get us out of here, okay? I'm going to get everyone out." He gives her hand a lick in response. "I have to go now, but I won't leave you here, okay?" Dogmeat whines quietly in the back of his throat. Sunshine shushes him, blowing kisses at him.

"I love you, Dogmeat," she says. "I won't leave you behind." Relunctantly, she pulls herself away from her faithful canine companion and heads to the clinic. She tries the door, expecting to have to break in but it opens. She slips in and gently shuts the door behind her.

The smell of waste and rot permeates the clinic and Sunshine wonders how many people got worse after receiving treatment here. She goes straight to the first aid boxes and pillages them for their contents. She makes her way to the medical supplies cabinet and tries to pull the doors open. They hold fast and she swears. She begins ransacking the clinic, looking for any bobby pins she can use to open the lock. Finally, in frustration, she picks up a rusty bonesaw.

She attacks the lock like it is an enemy, willing the metal to give. After several long and grating minutes of nothing but metal on metal, she cuts through the lock. It falls the floor with a loud thud and she throws the cabinet open. She takes the stimpacks and the med-x, frantically searching for something everyone in the pens desperately needed-antibiotics.

Her hands close around a large bottle and she struggles to make out the faded label in the dark. She finally manages to read 'penicillin.' _Yes! _She grabs every bottle that she can find, grabbing a bag from one of the tables. Satisfied that she has every she needs, she leaves through the back door.

The party had dispersed. Everyone had made their way into one of the various buildings or passed out where they stood. She sees Sister slumped over in a puddle of his own vomit. Viciously, she hopes he chokes. She makes her way to the dog pens. They sit, looking at her dully. She pries the decaying lock open.

"Go on," she says, moving aside. Some of them growl lowly as they leave the pens. She turns to make her way back to the pens in case her release of the dogs catches the slaver's attention. But she doubts it with the way they were impaired. Dogmeat, after faithful, begins to follow her. Her heart constricts in her chest as she kneels down.

"No, Dogmeat," she says. He whines, nudging her hand with his hand. She shakes her head. "You need to get out of here. I'll find you." He whines louder, bracing his paws on her shoulders and licking her face. She hugs him tightly. "Get out of here. I'll meet up with you. _Promise._" He looks at her forlornly with his mismatched eyes before moving away from her. She watches him go and wipes tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand.

She makes her way back to the slave pens. Rory and the kids are waiting for her. Squirell points excitedly as the dogs make their way through the camp, digging holes underneath the tin walls of the compound. She slides the bag of medical supplies through the hole before entering the pen again. The slaves look up at her with dull eyes. She forces a smile and begins treating their wounds with proper medicine, starting with Jonah.

"Oh hell, kid," Rory says, eyeing the back. "There is no way they aren't going to notice all of these things missing. They're gonna come back for them." She shrugs, wiping sweat from a panting Jonah's brow. Anna holds his hand tightly and Sunshine gives her a tired smile. His fever is already starting to go down.

"These supplies will all be gone before morning," she says before giving Anna instructions on how to care for her brother. She moves on to the next patient. "They can do their worst."

"You're gonna wish you hadn't said that, kid," Rory mutters, following her.

She tends the people in the slave pens until the sun comes up and the medical supplies run out. Swaying on her feet, she sinks to her knees, leaning against the wire fencing.

She'll only close her eyes for a moment.


	28. Spartacus

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Spartacus

Charon sits rigidly, watching Paradise Falls. He volunteered to take first watch and then second watch. Something tells him he is going to take third watch as well.

God damn it. _God damn it._ He wants to go storm the place and kill anyone in his way. Wants to hear the thud of their bodies crumpling to the ground, the smell of their blood stinking up the air. He grips his assault rifle tighter. He wants to kill and maim and hurt everyone who took Sunshine away from him.

"You will protect the contract holder with your life," he mutters to himself, even though he knows it is no longer that simple.

He waits, watching Paradise Falls, and inventing tortures for them that even they will find gruesome. He looks at James, who is trying to rest. He keeps tossing and turning. Finally, he settles for looking up at the stars.

"You said her name was Catherine," Charon comments, stirring James from his trance. "She never told me that." A ghost of a smile cracks over James' face.

"No need to sound so sullen about it," he says. "I'm not surprised. She doesn't much care for her name. I named her after her mother."

"Why doesn't she like it?' Charon asks, if only to try and chase away the ache that Sunshine's absence causes. James smiles sadly.

"I'm afraid that's my fault. When she was a little girl, I would very rarely call her Catherine. It was always 'sweetie', 'honey', 'sunshine'," he laughs. " I remember I was scolding her for something she did. 'Catherine Israel,' I said. She bit her lip and started to cry. I was taken aback but I had to be stern. 'Don't think crying is going to get you out of this,' I said." He looks over at Charon with an almost mournful look.

"What did she do to get in trouble with you?" Charon asks.

"I don't remember. What stuck with me is what she said," he says, shaking his head. "'I'm not crying because I'm in trouble, Daddy.' 'Why else would you be crying?' I asked. You know what she told me?" Charon can hear a slight quiver in James' voice.

"What?" he asks, his throat dry.

"'I hate my name, daddy. It always makes you so sad,'" James laughs, but Charon can tell that it is a pretense meant to mask tears. "I had named her after the two people who had meant the most to me-my wife and my best friend. She never got to meet either one. She insisted that I call her Sunshine after that. 'To chase the sad away.'"

"Sounds like her," Charon murmurs. "Girl goes to ridiculous lengths to make people happy." James hiccups, bringing his hands to his eyes. Charon looks away out of respect.

"I should have done more," he says with a fierce trembling underlying his words. "To keep her in the Vault, in the Overseer's good graces. She would have been safe. I never meant for any of this to happen. I just wanted to protect my baby girl." Charon nods, absently stroking the butt of his rifle.

"We'll get her back," he says. "And I'll make damned sure nothing like this happens to her ever again." James nods.

"Thank you," he breathes, his voice back to normal. "If she has to be outside in this hell-hole, then I'm glad she has you." Charon shakes his head.

"She is my employer. It is my responsibility to keep her safe." James smiles, shaking his head in response.

"Regardless of your reasons, I am still glad she found you." Charon stares at James for a moment, dumbfounded. James' words don't make any sort of sense to him. All Charon is good for is killing, and he is a ghoul besides. Charon is the kind of man that fathers warn their daughters against, not the kind that makes them proud.

"Thanks," he says, shifting unsurely. James chuckles, rolling over on his sleeping bag. Loud and jarring barking echoes throughout the night air. James sits up while Charon stands. He looks down the sights of his rifle to see a herd of dogs exiting Paradise Falls. Most begin running away from the compound, probably to go harass wayward travelers. But one stops a short way from the compound and simply sits. He begins to whine and, on a hunch, Charon goes down there after him.

"Mutt?" he says cautiously. The dog looks over and barks, almost in affirmation. Charon crouches down to check his eyes. Sure enough, they don't match. He reaches out to pet him and the dog-Dogmeat-wags his tail happily.

"I'll be damned," he mutters affectionately. "Where's your master, boy? Is she alive?" Dogmeat barks, and whines again, looking toward Paradise Falls. Charon nods, absently scratching Dogmeat behind the ears.

"Yeah," he says. "I know."

* * *

"Wake up, you pieces of shit!" Sunshine stirs, and a sharp pain shoots down her back. She had fallen asleep slumped against the fence. She groans, moving to pull herself up with the fence. But a hand fists in her hair first and she is all but thrown toward the group of people who had been herded in the middle of the pens. She feels arms wrap around her to steady her and looks up into the tired and haggard face of Rory. She looks around her to see the people who had been so near death glare at the slavers with a renewed fire in their eyes.

"All right," a crazed looking woman covered in blood-covered scrubs snarls. "Which one of you broke into my medical supplies? Huh? Who?" She grabs Anna and shakes her violently. "Was it you? Huh? You little bitch? Who?"

"Cutter, calm down," Sister says, placing a hand on her shoulder. His drawn and pale face furrows as he surveys the group. He sighs, his eyes landing on Sunshine. "Tell us who did it." Silence meets his ears and he shakes his head. He walks over to the front of the group and everyone steps back in an effort to avoid him. He roughly grabs a little boy by the arm and drags him to the front.

"Squirrel!" Sunshine hears Penny cry. Sister pulls out a knife, holding it to the boy's throat. Tears run down his face as he mouths 'help me', too scared to actually speak.

"Come on," Sister says, affecting a silky and friendly tone. "Surely even you miscreants wouldn't let me kill a child? Tell us who did it and the kid will be okay. Don't and, well," he says with a soft laugh. "I can't promise anything. I might twitch, see. And this kid will only be the beginning. You fuckers will wish you had never been born."

"No, no no no," Sunshine says, shaking her head. She opens her mouth to speak-she won't sacrifice anyone to save her own skin. "It was m-"

"It was me!" Rory calls, stepping out from behind Sunshine. She grabs his arm.

"Rory, no," she says, her voice pleading. "They won't kill me. I can't say the same for you." He smiles, shaking his head.

"You!" Cutter snarls, taking a step toward him. Sister holds up his hand to stop her. He eyes Rory and moves his gaze to Sunshine.

"You sure you did it?" he asks. "I think you're lying. You don't look the type."

"I did it," Rory answers. "Snuck out of the pen to steal them. Used every last bit to help these people." Sister shakes his head, pushing Squirrel back into the crowd. He saunters up to Rory, as if sizing him up. But he keeps his gaze on Sunshine.

"You sure that's the story you wanna stick to?" Sister asks. "There are serious repercussions of fucking with us."

"Do you worst," Rory says, stepping to shield Sunshine from Sister's eyes. The slaver shrugs before slugging Rory in the stomach. He grunts, falling to his knees and Sunshine kneels down to help him.

"You idiot," she says shakily, tears running down her face. "It wasn't you." He gives her a half-hearted grin.

"You're a good kid," he says. "Worth protecting. Not too many people like you left." Two slavers come and grab Rory by the arms. They jerk him up roughly. Sunshine reaches out for him but a hand fists in the back of her jumpsuit.

"Lock him in The Box," Sister's voice says from beside her ear. "And as for you-you're coming with me." He drags her out of the pen and pulls her in the opposite direction that Rory is being taken. She sees the slavers drag Rory to a Pulowksi Preservation Shelter. They had meant to be above ground, temporary shelters to protect people who were outside when the war came and couldn't get into a Vault. And, much like the Vaults, they didn't do a good job of protecting anyone. Sunshine came across some in her travels that housed skeletons of unfortunate people who had gotten inside only to never get out.

They push a struggling Rory inside and shut the door. She hears the clicking of a lock shutting and realizes with horror washing over her that they intend to keep him in there until he starves to death.

Sister drags her into a building, nodding to the guards that are posted outside the doors. He takes her through a dusty lobby into a large room. Various items of both pre- and post-war junk litter the place. A large and tacky looking heart-shaped bed is in the center. A man and two women laze about on it, eating potato crisps. The man sits up, a predatory look in his eyes and motions to Sunshine.

"Is this the 'special package'?" he asks. Sister nods curtly. Sunshine looks at the two women. They're both in tattered pre-war dresses and adorned with slave collars. One of them has the same predatory look as the man and the other looks weary, staring at Sunshine with dull and listless eyes. The pallor of their skin is visible, even in the dim lighting of the room. If Sunshine had to guess, she would say the two of them are addicted to Med-X.

"Yeah. She's also the one that's been causing all the trouble, Mr. Jones," Sister answers, pushing Sunshine toward the group. Her knees hit the bed-frame and she sways, trying to keep her balance. One of the women, the one with the unnerving and hungry look, grabs her by the front of her Vault suit and pulls her onto the bed. The woman giggles as Sunshine rolls onto her back.

"Pretty," she says, crazed. Her hands trail over Sunshine's face and down her neck. She toys with the zipper of the Vault suit. Sunshine's eyes widen as she looks up at the woman's face from on her back. Her skin is drawn tightly across her face, as if there wasn't enough of it. When she grins, it bares her teeth and makes Sunshine feel like the prey of some crazed animal. Her heavy breath cascades over Sunshine's skin and the girl fights the urge to mindlessly panic as she tugs the zipper gently down. Mr. Jones' tsks, slapping the woman's hand away. She pouts, rubbing her hand.

"You've only been here a few hours, and you've already caused extensive damage," he says, almost fondly. "Releasing all of our dogs, which we used for both slave corralling and a food source, and wasting all of our precious medicine treating the slaves. No wonder he's paying such a high price for you."

"Sir," Sister says unsurely. "What are you going to do? We can't let her get away with this."

"No," Mr. Jones agrees. "We can't." Sunshine pushes herself from her back and tries to get off of the bed. The crazed woman grabs her arm, her nails digging painfully into her skin.

"No no, sugar," she almost coos. "You have to wait until Mr. Eulogy is done talking." Eulogy tilts his head, as if appraising Sunshine.

"Sister, you brought her in. What do you suggest?"

"Conditioning," he answers automatically, as if the answer had been balancing on the tip of his tongue. "If her buyer gets her and she causes this sort of trouble with him, he could use it as an excuse to demand a refund. And, with the kind of caps he is paying, that would be really shitty for business if he decides to make a fuss about it."

"Hmm," Eulogy says, thinking it over.

"Oh, Mr. Eulogy!" the woman holding her arm cries. "Can I be in charge of it? Can I? Can I?" He rubs the stubble on his chin almost thoughtfully.

"He specifically requested that we refrain from conditioning," he says at long last. The crazed woman pouts again, pulling Sunshine toward her. Sunshine struggles to get away from the woman and it only serves to make the crazed woman's smile bigger. "He said she was troublesome-he just failed to tell us _how _troublesome. Troublesome merchandise is to be punished-no exceptions." He reaches out to pet the woman on the head affectionately, as if she were a dog. "As long as you don't leave very many scars, she's all yours, Clover." Clover grins viciously, bounding off of the bed and dragging an unwilling Sunshine with her.

"Do you want to help, Crimson?" she asks the other woman. Crimson shakes her head slowly. Clover shrugs. "More fun for me!" To Sunshine, she says, "You're gonna wish you had just kept your head down, sugar." Sunshine slaps her, trying to pry her arm away from her. Clover laughs, pulling her closer. The smell of copper from her breath fills her nostrils. Clover presses her lips against her ear.

"It's more fun when they fight," she says. "I hope you last a long time."


	29. Good Girl

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Good Girl

Sunshine has never been strong. Her skills all lay with the power of her mind. She could talk anyone into almost anything, hack any terminal or treat any sort of wound. But when it came to besting others in a show of strength and endurance, she always came up lacking. She had heart, Butch once said in an almost affectionate way, but heart didn't mean very much when she ended up getting a bloody nose for it.

Clover may as well be Hercules compared to her. She drags her away with little effort, despite how hard Sunshine fights. She leads her down uneven stairs to a dark and desolate room. The only light is sunlight streaming in faintly from a slender window high in the ceiling. The room had been some sort of pre-war basement repurposed into a post-war torture house. Clover giggles, pushing her down to the ground.

"Let's see," she says, tapping her chin. "I usually have to soften people up. You're already pretty soft to begin with." Sunshine bares her teeth in a scowl the way she learned from Charon, but Clover only laughs. "Soft, pretty _and_ fierce." She kneels over Sunshine, sitting down on her stomach. Sunshine rolls and bucks, but Clover keeps her in place with her legs. She twirls a syringe in her hand playfully and grabs Sunshine's wrist, dragging the needle across her skin. Sunshine stiffens.

"You know what this is, don't you?" Clover asks, almost gleefully. "You like to play doctor, right? This is a girl's best friend right here."

"Don't," Sunshine pleads, the word turning into a hiss as Clover sinks the needle into a vein.

"Don't worry, sugar," she says, her voice becoming distorted like Sunshine is hearing her underwater. "The Med-X will make it easier." Sunshine tries to focus on Clover's face but she keeps fading in and out of her vision. Clover laughs, tugging the girl's hair.

"Is the Med-X affecting you already? Don't have a lot of tolerance, do you?"

"Fuck you," Sunshine slurs.

"Oh-ho, you get a little feisty when you get high. I'm liking you more and more." She slaps Sunshine across the face. "Now, repeat after me: I will love my master. I will listen to every command he gives, no matter how small." Sunshine keeps her mouth shut tightly.

"You're gonna fight, huh? They all fight, in the beginning. Even me. But soon, I'll have you begging for your master. It's gonna be a mercy when he finally shows up." Sunshine spits in Clover's face, and she just continues to smile that same sort of mad smile. She grabs Sunshine by the hair and drags her up. Sunshine swings at her, but over-shoots her blow and only ends up grazing Clover's cheek. She stumbles past her and falls against the wall.

"You should quit while you're ahead," Clover taunts, moving close to her. How did she get so quick? Her hand flies out to catch her by the throat and she pins Sunshine against the wall. "You're only embarrassing yourself, sugar." Sunshine growls, kicking her foot out wildly. It makes contact with Clover's knee and she yelps.

"Ouch. Lucky shot." Her hand grasps the zipper of her jumpsuit and yanks it down. Sunshine bites back a yell and her hands move to Clover's shoulders to push her away. She strips the Vault suit from her with ease, nuzzling her skin in a morbidly affectionate way.

"You're from a vault, aren't you?" she breaths. "So pure and healthy. Not a scratch on you, like a brand new China doll. Tasty looking like a fresh cup of coffee with cream." Her fingers ghost down Sunshine's stomach. "I'm almost sorry I have to break you in. But then I think of how _my _body looks like a fucking roadmap and the feeling goes away."

"Do your worst," Sunshine snarls as Clover closes the manacles over her wrists. The other woman chuckles, moving to a table with a variety of rusted and painful looking weapons.

"Oh, don't worry, sugar-I'm going to," Clover promises, picking up a scalpel and eyeing it in the faint sunlight.

Sunshine's screams echo off the walls, overshadowed only by Clover's laughter.

* * *

Clover unlocks the manacles sometime later-had it been hours? Days? Sunshine vaguely recalls Clover taking breaks, leaving her chained to the wall. The first few times, she had struggled against her bonds after the other woman left, trying to find some way to unlock her manacles. As time went on and Clover cut her up and beat her more, working her 'magic' on her, she had simply taken Clover's absence as a blessing, hanging there and hoping the other woman would leave her there to die.

Sunshine crumples to the ground, ignoring the burn in her throat and the ache in her stomach. Dirt from the concrete floor gets into her wounds, causing them to sting, and that seems minor in comparison to the rest of the pain she feels. All she can focus on are the seemingly million cuts and bruises that cover her form. She is sure that she doesn't have any skin anymore, only bare muscle and exposed nerve endings. All she can see when she looks down at herself is red.

"You lasted longer than I was expecting," Clover pants. "I'm feeling worn out!" She kneels down and runs her hand down Sunshine's thigh. She croaks out a dry sob, tears having long since run dry.

"Aww, does that hurt, baby?" Clover sighs, running her hand up her body to her face, the one area she had kept from the knife. She runs her thumb across Sunshine's swollen lip. "I have just the thing for the pain, sugar."

"No," Sunshine groans. "No more Med-X." She is finally getting her thoughts in order from the jumbled mess they were, finally getting _herself _back. Clover ignores her weak protests and injects another dose in the crook of her arm. She brushes hair stuck to Sunshine's forehead behind her ear.

"Now, what did we learn?" Clover asks, affecting a gentle tone, as if she were talking to a child.

"'I-I will love my master'," Sunshine whispers. "I will do every little thing he wants, no matter how small." Clover beams almost proudly.

"Good girl!"

"_Goddamn it, Clover!" _a harsh and booming voice rings out from the top of the stairs. Clover's demeanor changes almost instantly. She whimpers, flying away from Sunshine and into a corner of the room. Sunshine watches a huge, featureless shadow make its way down the stairs, thundering step by thundering step. Eulogy Jones flitters in and out of focus, like static from a decaying holotape.

"_Goddamn it," _he swears again, kneeling down beside Sunshine. She whimpers as he grabs her chin. "I thought I told you not to go overboard!"

"It's not as bad as it s-seems, daddy," Clover says shakily. "It's just all the b-blood. Clean her off and you'll see it's not so bad!" He looks over at Sunshine again, swearing.

"Burke is going to have a shitfit," he says, shaking his head.

"B-Burke?" Sunshine says, a crazed laugh bubbling up in her dry throat. "That asshole. I knew it." Sunshine fades in and out as Eulogy storms to Clover. She ignores the terrified scream the other woman emits and the harsh slapping sounds that precede it. Eulogy drags Clover up the stairs by the hair, crunching the empty syringes of Med-X underneath his deathclaw skinned boots.

Sunshine tries to curl into herself, willing the Med-X out of her system. It changes the burning fire left by Clover's torture into a dull ache but at the cost of her mental faculties. The shadows in the room seem to dance around her and Sunshine hallucinates that they are demons wearing pinstriped suits and black fedoras, and tattered pink dresses, taunting her to call them master and calling her sugar in return. She covers her head to block out the words and the screaming that all seems to blend together into one terrible symphony.

She hears soft footsteps echo down the stairs as the faint sunlight starts to dance through the thin window at the top of the room. The footsteps avoid the broken syringes and it sounds like it has more than two feet. The figure lets out a sharp breath when it reaches the bottom. A shadow leans over her and begins to clean her wounds. The skin on the hands is rough but the touch is gentle. Sunshine can't open her eyelids more than a thin slit because she is trying to keep the monsters away, but she sees patches of broken skin and smooth muscle.

"Charon?" she murmurs. "Charon, I'm so glad you're here."

* * *

They had been watching the compound, waiting for the right opening. As much as Charon wanted to storm the gates, that has been out of the question. He always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, but with Sunshine safe and sound back in Megaton first. Charon looks through the binoculars at the door to Paradise Falls, gritting his teeth. He had just seen that asshole Burke enter the compound. Now he knows who ordered Sunshine's capture.

He'd save him for last.

"Do you hear that?" James' asks, motioning toward the compound. Charon shakes his head. He can't really hear much else besides his ragged breathing. "There is screaming and gunshots. It sounds like a riot." James stands, petting Dogmeat as he readies his gun. He walks over to Charon, taking the binoculars from him. James scales up the broken pillar of the overpass to get a better view. He hangs over the side, moving his gaze away from the door to look over into the inside of the compound. "We should have an opening to sneak in undetected."

"'Bout damned time," Charon says, grabbing his assault rifle. "I was getting sick of doing nothing but waiting with my thumb up my ass." James' nods, climbing back down to the ground.

"Knowing our girl, she's probably the one stirring up trouble."

* * *

"Jesus," a voice breathes, and it is quiet and feminine. "That monster really went to town on you." Sunshine groans as a cold rag begins to wash over her wounds.

"Hurts," she says, opening her eyes a little wider.

"I know it does. Just bear with me, kid," the woman says. Crimson grimaces as she cleans the wounds with as light of a touch as she can manage. Most of the blood has dried and the wounds scabbed over, so she has to apply pressure to scrub Sunshine's skin clean.

"No Med-X," Sunshine murmurs. Crimson nods.

"No Med-X," she promises, continuing to clean. Sunshine hisses at the contact but is relieved when she can see her skin, even though it is littered with cuts and bruises. Clover hadn't skinned her alive.

Sunshine found herself grateful for small favors.

Screaming and gunshots filter into the room. Crimson bites her lip and reaches over to turn on Sunshine's Pip-boy radio. 'Butcher Pete' does little to cover the obvious sounds of battle.

"How long has this been going on?" Sunshine asks, finding the strength to push herself up on shaky arms. Sunshine feels Crimson inject something into the muscle next to one of the worse wounds on her leg and she stiffens.

"Just a stim," Crimson says, holding the empty package up for her to see. "I broke into Eulogy's private stash." The wound begins to knit together painfully as Crimson wraps gauze around it. Sunshine can feel the medicine working its way through her bloodstream, helping to close the wound and clear her head.

"The fighting," Sunshine demands. "How long?"

"Not very," Crimson answers, twisting open a bottle of precious, purified water and handing it to Sunshine. "And, with the way these things usually go, it won't last. This is the first riot in a while. I guess you can do a hell of a lot when you aren't dying from infection. Here, take these." She hands her two large, white pills.

"Penicillin," Sunshine says, examining them. "But I used all of these."

"Like I said, I broke into Eulogy's private stash. He keeps the best care for himself and gives us scraps," she says bitterly. It is then that Sunshine notices the cane lying next to them. Crimson hands her a box of Salisbury steak and she smiles sadly before accepting it. She rips open the box and pulls out the hunk of rubbery meat, taking a bite of it. She doesn't think she's ever tasted anything so good.

"Your new master is here," Crimson says. "When the riot ends, he's going to take you out of here. If you're lucky, maybe he'll treat you nice."

"I'm not going with him," Sunshine says through a mouthful of food. "I'll set off my collar first." Crimson tugs at the collar on her neck balefully.

"I'd say that you don't mean it, but something tells me you do," Crimson says. "I wish I did. Wish I was brave enough." Sunshine shakes her head.

"You don't have to be," she says. "Here, turn around." Crimson obliges, and Sunshine pops open the control panel. She is able to make sense of everything with her head finally clear from the Med-X. She checks and double checks the wires before tugging them out of their sockets. The light on Crimson's collar goes off and the faint electric hum of the explosive goes blessedly silent. Crimson's hand goes up to touch the now dead and rapidly cooling collar.

"You," she says softly. "You turned it off?"

"I have kind of a knack for this sort of thing," she says with a smile

"I'm free," Crimson says, her voice trembling. "I haven't been free in so long."

"It's the least I can do, for the kindness you've shown me," Sunshine says gently. She stretches her legs out, careful not to reopen any of her wounds. She pushes herself up, standing to her feet slowly. She feels weak and pain wracks her body as she moves to the table where her Vault suit lies crumpled among the various knives. She hisses through clenched teeth as she pulls it on and the fabric rubs against her bandages which in turn rub against her wounds. She turns to see Crimson, cane gripped tightly in hand, pulling herself to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

* * *

Sunshine noooooo, I'm so sorry. D:

Oh my God, you guys. I have something I really need to get off my chest as I'm nearing 20,000 hits.

I never expected this. Not in a million years.

This started off as something fun, something that I never really planned on finishing or going anywhere meaningful with. Now, I'm almost to chapter 30 and I'm only half-way through what I have planned. XD This has grown ridiculously epic in scope and I want to thank everyone who has reviewed or favorited or story alerted or read. You guys have kept this going and it is awesome to know that I can write something you enjoy. The amount of feedback from you all has been humbling. I'd like to thank in particular my reviewers Shadowknight1121, Shortninja, SwankDoll, TheLionTree, Cressida Isodle, function, mupp3tbab3h (Emma), Tom-Ato13, BlackCatNeko999, FloridaMagpie, versperaxx, JadeObession, WhoAmI, Winged'Pollution, Marskatr, AeliaDouglass, BeGodlyBeLynn, Angel of Desires69, SarahInTheSky, silverdragon0315 Prinzessin Mia, calynn jiana, Pyrogasmic, condor1942, Irish Neko, DreamHunter4, Rosethorn, Har Har, Redglade, Big Sister K,and Recon 11.

All of you have been with me from the damn near the beginning of this monster. You make my day, every single one of you. Thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear what you have to say.

/end before I write myself to tears.


	30. Escape From Paradise

Chapter Thirty: Escape from Paradise

Sunshine presses her ear against the door that leads out of the basement. Crimson hovers anxiously behind her. She reaches out to place a hand on the shoulder of the nervous woman.

"Not yet," she says.

The sounds of a heated argument filter through the door to Sunshine's ears. She shakes the lingering fuzziness from her mind and listens intently.

"You what?" a hauntingly familiar voice says dangerously. Sunshine scowls, baring her teeth. _Burke._

"That bitch has caused no end of trouble!" Eulogy spits. "Look at the fucking mess outside! The slaves are revolting, thinking they have a right to something better! She started this! She helped them, healed them, taught them that they didn't have to submit! Our dogs are gone. Our drugs are gone! And those damned animals are killing my men!"

"I specifically asked that she be kept safe. You threw her in with the general population. I asked that you refrain from conditioning. You gave her to that lunatic. And you have the audacity, the _nerve_, to demand more caps?" Burke's voice is calm and quiet in contrast to Eulogy's yelling but Sunshine finds herself shuddering all the same.

"You should be thanking me!" Eulogy snaps. "She's bound to be less troublesome after Clover's conditioning. Easier to control with the Med-X."

"_You drugged her?"_

"I want double our original arrangement! It's going to cost more than that to fix this damned mess!" The door creaks open from Sunshine leaning against it and she crouches down. The two men are so tangled up in their argument that they fail to notice. Burke and Eulogy are facing off against each other. Sunshine can see Eulogy clearly but can only make out the barest edge of Burke's suit through the crack in the door.

"I'm afraid, Mr. Jones," Burke says. Eulogy steps back, his eyes a light with a fear that looks out of place on him. "That our business is concluded." The gunshot seems to rattle the very walls, the sound of it bouncing around the building. A large red flood begins to stain Eulogy's ridiculous suit, turning it into a ghastly funeral shroud. His hands splay across the wound as though he is trying to hold all of the blood in. He looks up at Burke with shock and falls to the ground with an anti-climatic thud. Clover's wail pierces the room and she runs to Eulogy, pulling his head in her lap. Sunshine stiffens at the sight of the woman who made her endure her special brand of conditioning. Her heart catches in her throat and her hands clench with the desire to hurt, to maim, to _kill-_

"I think he's gone," Clover whispers from behind her. Sunshine nods, throwing the door open. Clover doesn't even look up as Sunshine makes her way toward her. Tears run down her cheeks in black rivulets, washing away the eyeliner she had somehow managed to procure.

"_Daddy, wake up, please wake up,_" she cries hollowly over and over, like a haunting refrain on the radio. Sunshine kneels in front of her, her hand cupping her chin and lifting her face up to look at her. Clover doesn't acknowledge her but instead continues to plead to Eulogy's corpse. Sunshine moves a hand to the back of Clover's slave collar, popping the control box open.

It would be so easy to just tug all of the wires out. Let the collar overheat and explode, wiping Clover's miserable existence off the face of the earth. Sunshine's free hand fists into the fabric of her Vault suit down by her thigh. She could kill her and get revenge for Clover's torture.

This woman would never touch anyone again.

Her fingers idly trace the wires she can't see. Clover's eyes are unfocused and empty, words still falling from her lips and long ago ceasing to have any real meaning. Sunshine shakes her head, her hands pulling away from the woman as she stands.

Clover is a gibbering mess, content to waste away next to her master's corpse. There are more important things to attend to, and more important people to help. Sunshine, despite the wasteland and Clover's best efforts, is still alive and some-what whole. She nods to Crimson, who gives a withering look to Clover and follows her out.

She has already won.

* * *

Charon and James walk past the abandoned entrance of Paradise Falls, stepping over the bodies of dead slavers that line the path. He searches for Sunshine when they enter the battle but can't keep track of the chaos. People run and scream everywhere, those with slave collars attacking those without. Some of them have little more than rusted tire irons and bloodied fists. Charon eyes the bandages that the slaves wear like a single defining uniform and proudly realizes that he is looking at Sunshine's handiwork.

"That's my girl," he mutters, taking aim at a slaver advancing toward a group of children. They look at him with wide eyes before running off.

"Thank you, mister!" the girl calls, following the other two. He waves them off and, making sure they make it to cover safely, continues on.

"Sunshine!" he calls. "Sunshine, where are you?" Bullets fly past them and so he and James take cover behind the shell of a blown out bus. A group of slaves are already there and returning fire viciously.

"Haven't seen you two before," a man says, ducking back behind the bus.

"We're looking for a girl," James says over the roar of bullets. "Blonde. Young. Just got here."

"Oh, the doctor?" the man says, motioning to a bandage on his side. "Girl has balls as big as church bells. She snuck out to the clinic a couple of nights ago and stole the slavers' medical supplies. She treated all of us. Most of us were on the verge of death before she showed up. I don't know where she is now but they took her to Eulogy's pad the morning after she saved us. I'd start there." He motions to the largest building in the compound, outlined by a large figure of a boy. Best Charon could remember, Paradise Falls used to be some resort and the building the man is pointing to used to be a restaurant of some sort. But what it used to be didn't matter.

All that mattered was finding Sunshine.

He nods, and James thanks the man. They move along the edge of the bus, standing from cover to shoot the attacking slavers. They exit cover and begin fighting their way to the fortified building at the edge of the compound.

* * *

Sunshine and Crimson exit into chaos. The gun Sunshine lifted from Eulogy's corpse feels heavy and unfamiliar in her hand. She looks back at Crimson, who insisted that Sunshine take the gun.

"You gonna be okay?" she asks. A slaver comes up behind Crimson. Sunshine aims her gun at him but Crimson slams the bottom of her cane against the man's windpipe. He falls to the ground, gasping for breath, and Sunshine shakily puts him out of his misery.

"I've survived worse," Crimson says with a shrug. Taking a look at the girl's pale and drawn face, she asks, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sunshine says, shaking her head. _I don't think I'll ever get used to killing. _"Come on." They fight their way through the madness, taking cover when it is afforded. Crimson manages to scavenge a decent pistol from one of the felled slavers and Sunshine is glad for the extra gun. She has never been good with weapons and Crimson's experience is invaluable. They hide themselves underneath the shadows of corroded pipes. Sunshine looks around for away past the attacking slavers as she exits cover to shoot them. Bullets fly past her in a screaming barrage, forcing her to take cover again. The bullets slam against the pipes. She can hear them punch through.

"Sun-sunshine?" a timid voice asks. She leans down to see Sammy, Penny and Squirrel hiding underneath a pile of scrap metal.

"Hey, guys," Sunshine says. Putting on her best smile. "What are you still doing here?"

"We're not leaving Rory," Penny says forcefully.

"We can't take him home with us," Sammy says, exasperated. Sunshine notes with a wince how tired he looks, like he is decades older than he should look. "You know that."

"He helped us!" Penny says. "I won't leave him, even if he is a mungo!"

"Listen," Sunshine says as gently as she can over the roar of bullets. "I won't leave Rory. I'll get him out, all right? He helped me too."

"We can h-help," Squirrel says and she doesn't think she's ever seen him more determined. She shakes her head, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Sunshine, I'm knocking the slaver's back, but I'm not a one woman army," Crimson calls. "I'm gonna need your help soon." Sunshine eyes the rusted drainage pipe nestled in the cracked walls of an ancient building. If she had to guess, she would say it led out of the compound. The kids collars weren't active so they wouldn't be set off when the crosses the perimeter.

"You guys have done good," she says. "Real good. I wasn't anywhere near as brave when I was your age. I just need you to do one more thing."

"Anything!" Penny and Squirrel say. She ruffles their hair before gently pulling them toward the pipe.

"I need you to go through here," she says. "It's important." Their faces fall.

"What could possibly be important in there?" Penny asks.

"Reconnaissance," Sunshine says.

"What does it matter?" Sammy says. "The mungo said go through so we're going through." He ushers Squirrel and Penny through first. Once they're in the pipe, he stops at the mouth of it. His shoulders scrape the edges of the pipe and he is almost too big to fit. If he had been another year older, Sunshine is sure he wouldn't have fit at all. He looks back at her, his hand braced on the top of the mouth of the pipe.

"Thanks, mungo," he says. She nods, ushering him away.

"Anytime, kid," she says, feeling strange at calling someone else 'kid' for once. She watches him disappear through the pipe. She slams the grate shut before sneaking back to Crimson. She shoots the slavers that attack them, getting in a lucky shot now and then. Crimson is the one who fells the most enemies.

"Crimson," Sunshine calls as one after one enemy falls. "I need to get to The Box. Are you gonna be all right?" The other woman waves her off.

"Go on. We've knocked these bastard's numbers down a little. I'll cover you." Sunshine nods. Inhaling deeply and bracing herself, she runs from the relative safety of cover. The slavers that pay her any mind fall as soon as they look at her. She chances looking around and sees that Crimson is far from the only slave fighting back.

She reaches The Box and crouches down behind the make-shift maze the slavers had erected around it. It served to keep the other slaves away from the defunct preservation shelter but now it served Sunshine's need for cover admirably. She begins trying to open the locking mechanism of the door.

"Rory?" she calls. "Rory, can you hear me?"

"What the hell is going on out there kid?" an astonished voice answers back. She lets out a relieved breath.

"Are you okay?"

"Little thirsty, kind of hungry and I have to piss like a pregnant molerat, but I'm alive," he says. She nods, managing to open the locking mechanism. She tinkers with it for a couple of minutes, swearing under her breath, before it clicks and the door slides open. Rory stumbles out holding a hand up to shield his eyes.

"Wow," he breathes. "I thought I was going to rot in there. Thanks, kid." She smiles and he looks around. "Hell of a rough-n-tumble going on out here. Where are the little ones?"

"Already on their way out," she answers, standing up. "I talked them into sneaking out through a drainage pipe. They didn't want to leave you." He laughs, shaking his head.

"Those kids are something else. Thanks for getting them out." He looks around over the walls of the makeshift maze. "I see a weapon I can grab. Cover me?" She nods and he runs out. He grabs a gun from a dead slaver's hand with little difficulty and waves it at her.

"Thanks, kid! See you on the other side!" She smiles and waves back. She'd better make her way back to Crimson. And once this was all over-

She thought of her father and Charon and a cold feeling washes over her. What if she couldn't find them? It was a big wasteland. What if they were _dead? _She shakes her head, running a hand through her messy hair.

No.

She'd find them. She'd spend the rest of her life searching for them if she had to. They hadn't-_she hadn't-_come so far just to have it all end because Burke didn't have the good sense to let her go.

"Please," a voice chokes, so quiet that she almost didn't hear it.

* * *

All he can see is red. Red invades his mind, his sight, his very core. Everything he ever was, is and ever will be is red. He doesn't feel the cracks on his knuckles as he keeps slamming his fists into hard and unyielding flesh. He doesn't pay any mind to the cries of pain that have softened to pitiful whimpers.

Charon has finally caught Burke and he is going to make him suffer.

It had happened on the way to the old restaurant, the largest building in the compound. He and James had gotten separated by a sea of fleeing slavers. He had searched for the other man, Sunshine's father, his _friend,_ and had come face-to-face with Burke instead. He snarled, his fists tangling in the front of his grimy pinstriped suit.

"Where is she?" he had growled, not waiting for an answer before he started beating the man within an inch of his life.

"Please," Burke croaks, blood flooding down his face. His broken glasses rest skewed on his face, the broken lenses magnifying his eyes in an almost grotesque way. Charon punches him again.

Sunshine starts running toward the sound of pleading. She has to help whoever it was, slave or slaver. There wasn't any reason for torture.

There was _never _a reason for torture.

She round the corner as a pained cry echoes over the sounds of battle. She skids to a stop, aiming her gun in front of her.

"Charon?"


	31. Better Than This

Chapter Thirty-One: Better Than This

"S-songbird," Burke coughs, blood spilling over his chin. Charon releases the man's suit, dropping him to the ground.

"Sunshine," he breathes, taking a step toward her. She takes an involuntary step back from him, eyes darting back and forth between Charon and the bloodied mess he'd made of Burke. Burke reaches out for her and Charon freezes. Burke can't stand, though he tries, and he just falls back down to his knees. His hand snakes across the dirt pitifully toward her, cracked lips mouthing his nickname for her. _Songbird._ Charon stomp's the man's hand underneath his boot. He pulls the assault rifle from his back.

"Charon," she says carefully as he aims down the sights of the gun at the broken and bloodied man. "What are you doing?"

"Getting payback," he says simply. She finds the strength to step toward him.

"Enough," she says, her voice barely a whisper as she takes in Burke's abused form. "You've gotten your payback. You've won."

"Not good enough," he replies, cocking the rifle. "He took you. He's the reason you're here. I will protect the contract holder at all costs."

"Charon, you've beaten him within an inch of his life," she almost pleads. "He is weaponless, friendless and barely able to stand." He looks over at her.

"Why are you defending him?" he demands angrily, and she reflects that she is glad to hear his raspy voice again, even if this isn't the kind of reunion she'd imagined having with him. "He's the reason you're here, the reason we got separated. _He's the reason you got taken from me._"

"You're better than this!" she shouts. His eyes widen and his grip falters on his rifle. "Charon, you're a better man than this." He lets out a shaky breath, looking between her and Burke. He takes in Burke's form, face bloodied and bruised, ribs broken and knees popped out of socket. Thinks of Tenpenny Tower, of his slick voice seemingly caressing over Sunshine as he spoke his nickname for her. Thinks of how he took her from him, not only once but twice. He wanted her like nothing else before, wanted to claim and own her and kill anyone who stood between them. He would never let her go, would never leave her in peace. She had to know that even as she begged for his life. He chances a glance at her, sees her eyes wide and frightened.

_Protect the contract holder at all costs. _

Charon wants her more, and is willing to sacrifice his very soul to keep her safe, contract or not.

"No," he says gruffly, hands tightening on his rifle. He aims down the barrel to see Burke's face at the end of it. "I'm not."

The gunshot just barely covers her cry of his name. He holsters his rifle as Burke slumps against the wall he had been pinned against. Sunshine's eyes are wide and her hands covering her mouth. He grits his teeth at the fear and sadness he sees reflected in them, instead dropping the rifle and pulling her against his chest. She's stiff as a board, breathing heavily and shaking violently.

"This is never going to happen again," he murmurs against her hair. "I promise I will never let this happen again." His arms tighten almost uncomfortably, rubbing against her wounds and she bites her lip to stifle the sound of pain that builds up in her throat. She can't stop the tears that fall from her eyes as he presses a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"My dad," she says shakily, eyes avoiding the corpse of Burke. "Is he-?" She can't bring herself to finish the thought, but she has to know.

"Right behind you, sweetie!" she hears her father call and she almost sobs in relief.

"We're tough, kid," Charon says against her hair. She can feel his lips move against her skin. "We wouldn't leave you alone." She slumps against him, all of the strength she had found leaving her in one fell swoop. Her knees tremble and Charon's arm snakes underneath her legs. He lifts her up, as though she were little more than a child, and carries her in his arms.

"I never thought I'd see you again," she says. He nods stiffly and she watches the muscles in his neck move as he swallows.

"Kid," he says. "Sunshine. This isn't how I wanted our reunion to go. I didn't want you to see," his voice trails off and her eyes trail to look behind his shoulder at Burke's corpse.

"I know," is all she says.

* * *

The battle ends with the slaves victorious. Sunshine crawls from Charon's arms and begins, with the help of her father, to disable the remaining slave collars. Charon doesn't leave her side, following her like an anxious mother hen. Rory is the last one she gets to, and he smiles fondly down at her.

"Hey there, troublemaker," he says, taking a bite out of a mutfruit. "You feeling okay?"

"A little worse for wear," she answers. Charon's hand is perched on the small of her back, supporting her in case her legs give out from under her again. She doesn't tell him that he is resting his hand on one of the larger cuts left by Clover.

"Who's the big guy?" he asks, tilting his head toward Charon.

"My friend," she answers simply, disabling the collar. "Okay, this should be safe to take off now." Rory wastes no time in snapping the collar open and flinging it as far away from his person as he can manage. He rubs his neck and sighs contently.

"Thanks, kid," he says. "We'll take it from here. You look like you've already given us your all." She nods, searching for Penny, Squirrel and Sammy. She doesn't see them anywhere and fights back a surge of panic. They must be making their way home, wherever that was for them, and they obviously knew how to handle themselves. She wishes they had waited so she could escort them home. She opens her mouth to suggest looking for them and her knees buckle while she walks. Charon catches her and moves to pick her up again. She shakes her head, steadying herself on his arm.

"I-I can walk," she says. Dogmeat yips, tail wagging. She braces herself on Charon's arm and leans down to pet him.

"You need to rest," he says gently. "This can't have been easy for you." She looks around the now defunct slaver base and fights back a wave of panic. The slavers are all dead. Everyone's collars are deactivated. But her eyes fixate on Eulogy's pad and her breathing quickens. Dogmeat nuzzles her legs and it helps to slow her breathing.

"No," she says in a weak voice. "I don't want to stay here. I want to get as far away as possible." He nods, the arm around her shoulder tightening.

"Okay," he says softly. "Let's go find your dad and get out of here." They make their way through the rubble and signs of battle, calling for James.

"Over here, sweetheart!" he calls. They round a corner to see him attempting to disable the collar of a woman in a tattered pre-war dress. She bats away his hands to keep him from the wires. Sunshine's blood runs cold as the woman reaches up to touch her father's face.

"Pretty," she says, stroking the stubble of his beard.

"Dad!" Sunshine cries, pushing away from Charon and forcing her legs to run. She grabs him by the Vault suit and forcefully pulls him back with all the strength she can summon. "Get away from her!"

"Sweetheart," he says, looking up at her. "What on earth-?" She steps in front of him, shielding him behind her.

"Don't touch him," she growls. Clover smiles but it lacks the malice it used to have.

"Hey, sugar," she says. "I'm surprised you can still stand." She looks around Paradise Falls as if seeing it for the first time. "You really did a number on this place. Changed everything." Her hands go to touch her collar, reaching around to the back.

"Everything is gone," Clover says, her voice cracking. "Everything I knew. Eulogy is gone. Even you are going to go away." Her eyes are hollow and Sunshine hears the tell-tale pop of wires being pulled out of place. "Soon I'll be gone too."

Her father moves to help her but Sunshine grabs his arm to stop him. Clover's collar goes off with a weak bang and her headless corpse hits the ground. Sunshine winces, closing her eyes. She turns, avoiding the questioning gazes of her father and Charon.

"I want to get out of here. _Please,_" she says and she can't keep the pleading out of her voice. "Don't make me stay here." James looks between Clover's body and his daughter before nodding.

* * *

They leave Paradise Falls behind in silence. Sunshine feels her heavy heart growing lighter with every step they take that leads them away from that wretched place. She shakes, ignoring the pain that shoots through her body with every step, and keeps walking. _One foot in front of the other_, she thinks. _Baby steps. _God, but she is so tired.

She doesn't know when she lost consciousness. She vaguely remembers her knees buckling and strong patchwork arms wrapping around her. She doesn't dream.

Charon carries her in his arms as though she were a child. She's lighter and softer than he remembered. She trembles in her sleep against him and he holds her tighter. Dark bags stain the skin underneath her eyes and he wonders if she'd gotten any sleep since they left Megaton. He thinks about their last conversation before the slavers had shown up. He thinks about the things he had wanted to say to her and the things he had wanted her to say to him.

He had missed her, sure as the day is long.

They make camp, having to deal with very few enemies throughout their trek. James had been able to handle the few hostiles they'd encountered. Charon sits down on the bedroll James sets out and thanks him quietly. Sunshine stirs at the sound of his voice.

"Charon?" she asks sleepily. James begins cooking some scavenged dog meat, shooting apologetic glances to Dogmeat.

"I'm here, kid," he says. She lifts a hand to rub her eyes, ignoring the way her wounds pull tight against her skin. She crawls out of Charon's lap.

"That smells wonderful," she says, reaching across the fire to pluck a half raw dog steak from the frying pan.

"Sweetie, that's still-" her father starts but she takes a ferocious bite out of it, blood dripping down her chin. She licks her lips and keeps eating, ignoring the slightly sickened and worried stares of her companions. She knows she's craving raw meat because of all the blood she has lost. She knows that she really should let her father cook the steak all of the way. But still she swallows, caring less about bacteria and more about sating the strange craving.

"You okay?" Charon asks quietly, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looks down at his hand, reflecting on how he had beaten Burke to death with the same hand that was touching her so gently. She shrugs it off with a wince.

"I'm fine," she says through a mouthful of raw meat. "Never better." She looks around, not recognizing any of the surroundings. Paradise Falls has long since faded into the distance. She glances down at her Pip-boy. "Where are we?"

"Just outside of Arefu," her dad says. She winces at hearing how much further they were from Rivet City than when they started.

"I dragged us through one hell of a detour, didn't I?" Her dad gives her a reassuring smile and she finds herself smiling back, despite it all.

"It just means we get to spend more time together, sweetie," he says gently. She looks back and forth between her father's smile and Charon's stoic expression. He doesn't move any closer to her but she finds herself still putting distance between them. His eyes meet hers and she lowers her gaze.

_"S-songbird."_ She shakes her head, standing up. She eyes the tendril of the dirty Potomac in the distance. She rummages in her back for some Rad-X and rubbing alcohol.

"I'm going to get cleaned up," she says.

"Do you need anyone with you?" Charon asks quietly. She shakes her head.

"No. I got it. Thanks," she says. She needs to change her bandages and doesn't want anyone to see. Dogmeat yips and stands to follow her, tail wagging. She smiles weakly, reaching down to pet him.

"You gonna protect me?" she asks. He yips, licking her hand. "Come on." She ignores the way Charon's gaze follows her as she walks toward the river. She finds a large boulder to lean against and shield herself from prying eyes. She unzips her vault suit and begins to unwind the bandages, hissing as they tug the wounds they're stuck to. Dogmeat whines, nosing a particular painful wound on her leg.

In the moonlight, they don't look so bad. They're starting to slowly heal and they're at the point where she can pretend she has a chance of them not scarring. She cleans them with rubbing alcohol, ignoring the stinging it causes and re-bandages them. She's pulling her vault suit back on when she hears the crunching of dead plants underneath a boot.

"Kid?" Charon calls. "You decent?" She eyes the bloodied bandages clenched in her fist, looking for somewhere to hide them.

"No," she says. "Not yet." She hears Charon sit down on the other side of the boulder.

"Can we talk?" he says, the words heavy and foreign on his tongue. He isn't used to talking. He is used to keeping his mouth shut and killing whatever needed killing.

"What's on your mind?" she asks, back flush against the boulder. She slides down to sit, staring at the bandages in her hands. She wraps the stained bandages around her fingers, trying not to think about how much red stains the fabric.

"I was hoping you'd start," he says with a nervous laugh. "I'm not so good at this talking thing." She leans her head back and closes her eyes. What can she say? Talk about her time in Paradise Falls? About Clover? About how scared she was that he and her father were dead? About how much she had missed him? She sees the image of Charon leaning over Burke behind her eyelids and, for once, doesn't know what to say.

"I'm tired, Charon," she says.

_Everything is different now._


	32. Stupid Stunts

Chapter Thirty-Two: Stupid Stunts

Raiders are filthy creatures. Years of killing and chem abuse have rendered them little more than animals. They only care about their sadistic pleasures. They're a blight among the wasteland and dot the cracked landscape like insects.

It would be their luck to be ambushed by a whole group of them.

Sunshine hunkers down behind the meager cover of a blown out building. Charon had managed to secure their weapons from Paradise Falls and the weight of her plasma rifle isn't as much of a comfort to her as she thought it would be. It feels heavy and clunky in her hands. The raiders yell and howl in pleasure from fighting them, even as Charon and her father take out their friends. She winces as she hears the bullets scream through the air and hit their targets.

She doesn't want to shoot her gun. She doesn't want to feel the bursts of plasma and hear the screams when it hits flesh. She doesn't want to fight. She listens to the sounds of battle from the safety of cover. _Get up,_ she urges herself. _Help them. _But still she stays frozen, hands around her plasma rifle in a white-knuckled grip. Just as quickly as it had started, it is over.

"Kid?" Charon's gruff voice calls. "You okay?"

"Honey?" her father's voice follows and she winces.

"F-fine," she says. She clears her throat. "I'm fine. Not a scratch on me." A shadow falls over her again blocking out the sun. Charon stands over her with his shotgun gripped in his hands. He silently holds a hand out for her to take. She looks at it for a moment before accepting it. He pulls her up almost gingerly and steps away from her. She guiltily feels glad that he is giving her space.

"We need to scavenge the bodies for supplies and put down any stragglers," he says to James. Her father nods. She makes a face but begins to help with the scavenging. She's always understood the necessity of scavenging supplies from the dead. It's saved her, and Charon, more than once. But she could never shake the feeling of sacrilege and disrespect that seemed to follow her as she went through the motions.

There were so many dead bodies. She hadn't realized the raider group had been that large. Her face burns in shame as she thinks of the way she had frozen. Charon, Dogmeat and her father had to kill these attackers without her help. She turns a man over to rummage through his pockets, and beneath the dirt and grime he looks younger than she is. His armor hangs off of him as though he hadn't had the time to grow into it. And now he never would.

All he has on him is a rusted tire iron and some Instamash. She bites her lip before taking the food and moving on to the next body. This one is a man who looks to be older than her father. She would place him at Jericho's age if she had to guess, maybe a little older. She grunts as she pushes him on his back. He's heavy. A soft groan meets her ears and she sees his eyes open blearily.

"You're alive," she breathes.

"No shit," he wheezes. "I didn't see you in the fire fight. Where'd you come from?" She doesn't answer him, instead searching for his injuries. She finds on in his shoulder and another in his leg.

"I can help you," she says.

"Why?" he asks with a moan. "Shit. Shot all to hell _and _coming down off of jet? This is my lucky day."

"You're a raider but still a person," she says. _I'm so sick off all this killing and death and blood._ She begins cleaning his wounds, glad that the man had fallen beside cover. She keeps an eye out for Charon or her father. They are on the other side of the area where the battle took place. She sees Charon aim his gun at a survivor he'd found and winces as the gunshot echoes across the silence. She bandages them and injects a stimpack into his leg.

"Can you walk?"

"It's not fucking rocket science," he grumbles, flexing his leg. He pulls himself away from her towards a cluster of houses not too far off. He gives her a mock salute.

"Thanks, kid." She nods and stands, going to search for more supplies. She didn't have any illusions about the kind of person the raider was. But it seemed like all she had done since leaving the Vault was take life away. It seemed like that was all anyone ever did out here. Her father didn't raise her to be a murderer. She didn't want to be a murder, didn't want to kill anyone. She runs a hand through her hair and sighs. Her sigh turns into a strangled cry as a hand wraps around her throat.

"Don't move," the raider growls and she feels a barrel of a gun digging painfully into the wound on her back.

"Son of a bitch," she swears. Charon and her father rush over with their weapons drawn.

"Don't you fucking dare!" the raider yells. He moves the gun to press against her temple."You assholes take another step and I'll blow this bitch's head off!"

"Let her go," James says, lowering his gun.

"If you know what's good for you," Charon snarls. The raider laughs.

"What are you going to do about it?" A low growling, so faint that Sunshine didn't hear it before, erupts into a loud roar. Dogmeat attacks the raider and his teeth clamp down on the man's bandaged leg. He lets go of her with a savage yell. She catches her father nod to Charon before he yells,

"Get down!" She hits the ground with a loud and painful thud. Her arms are thrown over her arms in an effort to drown out the gunshots. When she sits up, Charon is leaning over the man's body. The bandages that she had wrapped around the raider's wounds-for all the good it did- are clenched tightly in his hand. He looks at her and she sees anger blazing in his eyes.

"What the hell, kid?" he says, shaking the bandages at her. "You helped this fucker?" She averts her eyes from him as she stands.

"Yeah," she says quietly. "I did." He takes a few steps toward her and throws the bandages to the side.

"Why would you even think to do that? What in the hell could have possibly possessed you?"

"I'm sick of killing," she says. "Of murdering people."

"It's not murder if _they attack you first,_" he says, like he is explaining something to a child. It's his tone that causes her to lose it.

"The hell it isn't!" she yells, taking a step forward to look Charon in the eyes. He stares at her with the same stoic expression he uses under pressure but she can see the bright fire of anger behind their milky film.

"These were _raiders._ They lived by killing innocent folk for a few meager scraps. They were evil, Sunshine-"

"They were people!"

"This sack of shit-" Charon says, with a sharp kick to the raider's corpse that causes her to wince. "Wasn't a person. He gave that right up the moment he decided to prey on those weaker than him, and kill for sport."

"What we do isn't any different," she says in a choked voice.

"What we do is very different," he says. "Different as night and day."

"I don't want to do this anymore," she says. "Not matter how 'different' it is."

"Good luck with that, _kid,_" he says and he puts a hard inflection on 'kid' that makes her grit her teeth in anger. "There is an entire wasteland out there that will take everything it can from you and kill you afterwards. When it attacks," he says, leaning his face down close to hers. "You strike back and down them for good."

"You can't kill an entire wasteland," she whispers.

"I can if it keeps you safe," he says. She takes a step back from him as he says that and doesn't know what to say. What _can _she say? "I will protect you with my life, Sunshine. But it'd be nice if you made it easier on me and quit pulling stupid stunts like this."

"Stupid stunts?" she asks, her voice hard.

"The android at Rivet City. That shit at Tenpenny Tower. Causing a riot at Paradise Falls. Helping that damned raider. You could have died ten times over each time," his voice grows frenzied as his hands grip her shoulders. "And for what? Helping people who wouldn't give two shits if you had died." She finds her voice, bringing her hands to cover his.

"I will never refuse to help someone who needs it," she answers, pulling his hands from her shoulders. "Regardless of what they feel about me or what they've done." She steps back from him and he lets her. She turns and walks past her father back toward the camp they had set up before the raiders ambushed them. She turns on her radio in an effort to distract herself. The music crackles out of her Pip-boy's worn speakers from a different era though not necessarily a better one. She begins to finish the chores that she was in the middle of before the ambush, rolling up her sleeping bag and collecting her miscellaneous belongings.

"_Livin' for you is easy living,_" the woman on the radio sings. Charon and her father walk into the campsite but she pays them no mind, her thoughts still seething with rage._ "It's easy to live when you're in love. And I'm so in love."_ She looks at Charon out of the corner of her eye. He stiffly gathers his belongs, shoving them unceremoniously into his pack. He looked more dejected than angry and she fights back the wave of guilt that comes with the realization. All he has done, all he had ever done, is look out for her wellbeing. He'd been her protector and, more importantly, her friend. She swallows the lump in her throat and looks away from him instead counting the holes in her ragged sleeping bag.

"_There's nothing in life but you."_

* * *

They're making good time today, walking past abandoned wasteland dwellings and avoiding large groups of enemies. Sunshine estimates that they may make it to Rivet City in a couple of days if they keep up this pace.

Good. She's looking forward to having something constructive to distract herself with.

The three of them walk in silence with Sunshine's Pip-boy radio the only sound between them. She walks on one side of her father and Charon the other as if using the man as a wall between them. Dogmeat skips ahead in front of them, chasing a bloatfly.

"_Hey there, chiiiiiiiiildren, it's me, Three Dog! Lord and Master of all I survey,"_ the familiar voice of Three Dog croons over the radio. "_Oh, wait-that's that _other _radio station. Time for a bit of news! The settlement of Grayditch has gone quiet. There's been radio silence from them for a few days. So it you're in the area, you might drop in to check on everyone._" She nods to herself. Grayditch is on the way to Rivet City. It wouldn't hurt to pop in and check on the small settlement.

"_Now, remember how I told you that kid from Vault 101 got captured by slavers? Turns out she managed to escape from paradise with the help of a riot and her stalwart ghoul manservant!" _Sunshine winces, reaching for the dial on her radio. Charon promptly spits out the Nuka Cola he had been drinking.

"Christ, I have a name," he grumbles, wiping. Despite herself, she laughs.

"I can't _believe _that caught on!" He smiles weakly at her and, hesitantly, reaches out to ruffle her hair. The contact is gone as quickly as it had come and she finds herself trying to lean into his missing touch. James looks between the two of them.

"Look," he says, to break the silence. "There's Megaton. We can stop in for the night on our way to Rivet City."

"That sounds heavenly," she says. Charon nods.

"It'd be nice to get back to civilization," he grunts. "What's left of it anyway." The three of them reach the rusted and creaky gates of Megaton. Sunshine waves at Deputy Weld and gives Mikey, the resident water beggar, some purified water. They enter the settlement and she is glad to be back. She takes in a deep breath of air to smell the familiar smells of rust and the Brass Lantern's cooking. It's only been a few days, but it feels like a lifetime.

"Please, sir, you gotta help me!"

"Now, look, son," Lucas Simms starts. "I don't have the means to send a search party out right now. You'll have to wait until morning."

"But he could be dead!" the young boy says, fat tears rolling down his face and leaving streaks in the dirt that covers his cheeks. "_Please."_ Sunshine turns to make her way over to the two of them but her father grabs her arm.

"Sweetie," he says. "You need rest. That boy will get the help he needs. Simms is a good man."

"But-" she begins but he cuts her off.

"You'll be no good to him in the condition you're in." She panics, wondering how he figured out about her wounds. He smiles. "You're exhausted, and lucky to have come out of Paradise Falls unscathed." She breathes out a sigh of relief that he mistakes for fatigue.

"See? Let's get some sleep and we'll head out first thing tomorrow morning, all right?" She nods.

"Yes sir." They walk up the lopsided hill that her house teeters on. She unlocks the door to Wadsworth's chipper voice.

"Why, you appear to be wounded, madam! Might I suggest bed rest?"

"Wadsworth," she says tiredly. "Tell us a joke."

"War is not about who is right. It is about who is left," the robot answers. Charon snorts from behind her. She nods, making her way up the stairs.

"I'm going to hit the hay a little early tonight," she says. She needs to change her bandages and she likes the thought of having a lockable door. Charon and her father nod and she shuts herself in her room.

Her Vault suit is filthy. She peels it off of her and leaves it crumpled in a heap beside the door. She pulls the bandages off and treats her wounds. They look worse underneath the harsh fluorescent lighting of her room. She grits her teeth as she treats them. She needs to see if Doc Church has anything for infection. He'll charge her an arm and a leg but it'll be worth it to keep from getting gangrene.

Downstairs, Charon shifts around the house anxiously. He straightens the worn books on the shelf, much to the chagrin of Wadsworth who putters over and straightens them back. He begins pacing for lack of anything better to do. James smiles from his place on the couch and shakes his head. He puts down the magazine he'd been reading and stands.

"I'm going to go see that eccentric woman who owns Craterside Supply," he says. "I'll be gone a while." Charon looks over at the other man. "Long enough to have a talk or two."

"You're leaving me alone with her?" he says doubtfully. James puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry so much," James says, squeezing his shoulder. "It's been a long week. You two just need some rest."

"Thanks," Charon says.

"Just try not to put your foot in your mouth," James teases. He turns to leave. When he is at the door, Charon calls,

"I don't suppose you have any more stunning advice?"

"'Fraid you're on your own, son," he says with a laugh, shutting the door behind him. Charon doesn't pick up on what he called him until long after he is gone. He stops pacing and shakes his head.

"'_Son'_," he mutters, shaking his head. He leaves the house and walks toward the Brass Lantern.

* * *

Sunshine sits up with a strangled cry. She'd managed to doze off, only to wake up drenched in sweat and her heart pounding in her chest. The nightmare is already fading but the shakes will outlast it. She'd been back in that dark room with no one for company except the haunting echoes of Clover's laughter. Her father and Charon had been killed, strung up as trophies directly in her line of sight. She can see the outline of their bodies out of the corner of her eye. She bites down on her hand, choking back a sob and squeezes her eyes shut.

_Just a dream,_ she says. _It's not real. _The med-x hadn't completely left her system yet and she is still suffering from the ill side effects of it. A knock at the door startles Sunshine. She takes a few deep breaths to control her breathing and gets out of stifles a yawn and goes to unlock her bedroom door. Charon stands on the other side with a bag in one hand and two bottles of Nuka Cola in the other.

"Hey," he breathes, taking in the baggy, threadbare sweater and her hair that sticks up in all directions. "You hungry?" Her stomach growls at his question.

"Starving," she answers, happy to see him alive. She steps back, opening the door. "Come on in." He bends down to walk through the door way, straightening up when he enters the room. She kicks her Vault suit and the bandages behind her desk as she closes the door. She walks to the bed and sits down. Charon still stands in the middle of the room, eyes darting from wall to wall. Dogmeat lifts his head up sleepily from beside the bed.

"There aren't very many places to sit," she says, patting the spot beside her. "Come on." He cautiously sits down at the very edge of the bed, putting the bag of food between them.

"Here," he says. She picks out a box of Dandy Boy Apples and some Cram for Dogmeat. He watches her pop open the Cram and give it to Dogmeat quietly.

"How are you feeling?" he asks finally, if only to break the silence.

"Tired," she answers truthfully.

"Cold?"

"What? Oh," she says, looking down at her sweater. She'd put it on so she wouldn't have to look at the marks Clover had left on her. "Yeah, a little." He nods, cracking open one of the sodas and handing it to her. She gives him a small smile as she takes it. They both take a deep breath and say at the same time,

"I'm sorry." She grins sheepishly and he coughs into his hand.

"Well, that was easy," she says jokingly, the smile on her lips fading when she notices his expression doesn't change. "What?"

"I said some things that were," he pauses and then sighs. "Uncalled for." She sets her food and drink down on the desk beside the bed.

"Admittedly, I had those things coming," she says and, tentatively, reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't say anything I didn't already know."

"It's not the welcome home you should have gotten from me," he says, shifting uncomfortably.

"Maybe not," she says. "But no use dwelling on it. I've done some pretty stupid things, you're right."

"No," he says quietly. "Not stupid. Not completely." She flashes him a sheepish smile.

"You really know how to make a girl feel nice," she teases. He gives her a weak smile in return. "So we're good now?"

"Yeah," he says, lifting the Nuka Cola to his lips. "We're good."

"Good," she says happily, taking a bite out of a Dandy Apple. He nods, shifting uncomfortably. He's said his piece. He should probably go. He moves to stand but is frozen when she grabs his hand.

"I, uh," she says, lowering her gaze to the floor. "I never did get the chance to say how happy I was to see you. When you guys came for me. Despite everything."

"We wouldn't have left you behind," Charon says, his mouth dry. He lets out a choked grunt when she throws her arms around him.

"Thank you," she whispers. "I thought I was going to die in there." _I wanted to die there. Anything to make the pain stop._ "I didn't think I would see you again."

"I'm here now, kid," he says, wrapping an arm around her tightly. Against her hair, he says, "For good or ill."


	33. Those!

Chapter Thirty-Three: Those!

Sunshine exits Megaton's single rundown clinic. She'd managed to haggle the medicine away from Doc Church but at the cost of all the salvage she could carry. He'd offered to trade the medicine she needed for her plasma rifle but she refused. She reaches up a hand to stroke the butt of the gun that rests on her back. It had been a gift from a friend and she wouldn't part with it for anything.

She sees the young boy from yesterday crouched next the settlement's lone brahimin. He's dirty and looks worse for wear. The only clean parts of him are the streaks from the tears that have run down his cheeks.

"Hey," she says, crouching down next to him. He shrinks away. "You're the kid from yesterday. Did you ever get the help you needed?" He shakes his head, staring at her with wide eyes.

"He said he can't find the man he wants to help me," the boy croaks. "The best shot in Megaton."

"Jericho," she says knowingly. "He's kind of a jerk. What is it you need? Maybe I can help."

"But you're just a girl," he says. She laughs, shaking her head. She offers her hand out to him and, after a moment of contemplation, the boy takes it.

"I may be just a girl but I'll do my best to help you. You can trust me," she says with a soft smile.

"I can't find my papa," he says and her heart stings with a sad familiarity. Her smile feels heavy on her lips.

"I have some experience in finding fathers," she says, looking up at her Megaton house. She squeezes his hand. "Come on. We'll get my group and go, okay?" They walk up to her house. The boy clings to her hand as they walk and she can hear his breath spurt in nervous gasps.

"What's your name?" she asks in an effort to distract him.

"B-Bryan," he answers. "Bryan Wilks."

"I'm Sunshine," she says. "Where are you from?"

"Grayditch," he says. Her brow furrows.

"Grayditch, huh? Three Dog said that the settlement had gone quiet." He nods sadly. "What happened?"

"Those monsters," he says quietly. His breathing becomes faster and shallower as he struggles to speak."They came out of nowhere. I-I don't know if-"

"Shh," she says, squeezing his hand again in what she hopes is a reassuring way. "It's alright. Are you hungry?" He nods, staring at her with those wide and frightened eyes. "We'll get you something to eat, okay?"

"You live here?" he says, craning his head up to look at her house. "My papa says that it's really hard to get a house here."

"Yeah, well," she says, laughing nervously. She pushes open the door. "I did a couple of favors for the town." Charon and her father look up from their seats. Shotgun parts litter the floor around Charon from the repairs he'd just finished. James sets the magazine he is reading down.

"Hello, sweetheart," he says. He looks at Bryan who is looking at Charon from behind Sunshine's legs. "Who is this?"

"Bryan," Sunshine answers. "He's from Grayditch. He needs help finding his dad. I was thinking we could go with him." James nods, crouching down with his hands on his knees to speak to Bryan.

"Grayditch is a ways away," he says kindly. "And you made it here all by yourself?" Bryan nods.

"Yes sir," he says after a moment. He catches Dogmeat sitting beside Charon and is eyes light up.

"You must be extremely brave," James says. "Of course we'll help you." Dogmeat barks, wagging his tail and running to the boy to lick him on the cheek. Charon puts the finishing touches on the repairs he has made to his shotgun.

"Grayditch on another mission of mercy?" he asks pointedly, looking at Sunshine. His voice carries no hint of emotion and she can't tell if he is upset or not. She swallows and nods. He finishes reloading his gun and cocks it.

"As you command," he says. She winces.

"Thank you," she breathes.

The boy leads them out of Megaton. They make their way across the rubble and dirt that covers the wasteland. James walks ahead of them with Bryan and manages to pull the boy into an easy conversation. Sunshine can see the kid's shoulders relax as he talks to her father about absolutely nothing.

"I don't know how to do that," she says. Charon gives her a strange look and she motions to her father, clarifying, "How to make people feel better. I try, but my bedside manner is lacking." Charon snorts. She sighs, watching the boy talk to her father and make wild gestures with his hands. Dogmeat walks happily beside them content to watch for predators.

"I've always wanted to be just like my father," she says. "I always wished I had inherited his strength." Charon moves to place a hand on her shoulder. She feels the weight of his hand as he grips her shoulder tightly.

"Don't sell yourself short, kid," he says gruffly. She gives him a weak smile in return.

"Hey!" Bryan yells from in front of them. They look up to see him pointing at a cluster of buildings. Smoke rises from the area to blend in with the few clouds that have formed. "There it is!" He grabs onto James' hand and the group heads across the battered wasteland into Grayditch.

Three Dog had been right: the town _had _gone quiet. There isn't a sign of life to be found anywhere and the only noise is the crackling of the fires that burn.

"What do you think?" Sunshine asks Charon. He looks around with a scowl on his face.

"I don't like the look of this place," he answers.

"I don't think you like the look of any place," Sunshine says. He glares at her and she shoots him an innocent smile. Her brow furrows as she looks around. "You're right, though. There's something off."

"What did the kid say attacked him again?" Charon asks, eyeing a pile of refuse. He could just barely make out what the waste used to be.

"He didn't," Sunshine answers, eyeing a particularly large fire. "'Monsters' is all I could get out of him. I'm thinking raiders. They've been known to burn settlements to the ground after raiding them. What do you think?"

"No," he says, eyes darting between the fires and the piles of refuse. "Not raiders. But I'm not sure what else it could be. These refuse piles look like the leavings from ants but ants don't set fire to settlements."

"Maybe it's that lady Three Dog talks about sometimes," Sunshine offers. "What's her name? The one that fights the guy with the robots."

"The Ant-Agonizer," Charon says. Sunshine groans at the pun. "No, she stays close to Canterbury Commons and that's on the other side of the wasteland. There would be no reason for her to come out this far." They round a corner and see a lone ant staggering up the broken asphalt toward them. It catches sight of them and fire suddenly shoots out from it toward them. James pulls a shrieking Bryan behind the cover of an old building. Charon presses Sunshine against a brick wall and shields her body with his. He aims his shotgun at the ant though the flames and fires. The ant, still smoking, falls over lifeless.

"Are you okay?" Charon asks. Sunshine swallows, her hands braced against his chest. She feels his heart beating erratically underneath her palms.

"Yeah," she says thickly. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"Peachy," he grumbles, glaring at the ant.

"Now we know what burned Grayditch to the ground," she offers.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Charon says as James moves to examine the ant. Charon moves away from her and she scurries over to her father.

"What is it?" she asks, crouching down next to him.

"It's just a giant ant," James says, poking and prodding at it. He hisses, jerking his hand away as he touches a still hot part of the ant. "They're fairly common. But this one has evolved to emit fire."

"Evolution takes years," Sunshine says, gingerly lifting one of the ant's legs. She can smell a hint of ozone from the fire the ant had shot at them. "Centuries, even. How would these things be able to evolve so fast?"

"Not naturally," James says. "Someone must have been here to speed the process along."

"Does it matter?" Charon grumbles, checking his shotgun. Sunshine and James cease their examination of the ant to look up at the ghoul. "These things destroyed this place regardless of how or when they showed up. We need to do what we came to do and get out. This place isn't safe." Sunshine looks at Bryan who stays huddles against the wall and staring at the ant with wide-eyed fear.

"Okay," she says, standing up. "You're right. Bryan, everything is okay, sweetheart. It's dead now."

"Is it really?" he whispers. She nods and smiles encouragingly. She holds out her hand for him to take.

"It really is," she says. Bryan pushes himself away from the wall and makes his way toward her, cautiously avoiding the dead ant.

"There's more of them," he says. "Of those monsters."

"There always is, kid," Charon says, keeping his eyes on the horizon where he can see more of those things congregating. Bryan leads them further into Grayditch. They stop in front of a diner that had clearly seen better days. The red and white checkered vinyl on the outside has peeled and most of the building has rotted away over the years.

"My house is that way," Bryan says, pointing. Charon catalogues the rundown houses and their positions. He notices the shack next to the house Bryan points at. It's barely holding together and looks like it had been built recently from scrap. "The one with all of the smoke pouring out of it. That's where I last saw my papa." Sunshine nods and her throat tightens. There is a slim chance that Bryan's father is still alive but a better chance that he isn't. And by the look in his eyes she can tell that he knows it as well as she does. Bryan heads toward the lone Pulowkski Preservation Shelter and shuts himself inside.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay in there?" Sunshine asks, eyeing it doubtfully.

"I'm okay!" Bryan calls from inside it. "Stupid monsters can't get me in here!" She looks between her father and Charon before moving her eyes back to the Preservation Shelter.

"If one of those ants decided to shoot fire at that thing it wouldn't take very long to heat up," she says.

"Someone should probably stay with him," James says. "I'll stay here and make sure he doesn't get roasted alive." Sunshine nods and catches Charon's eye. His face looks as impassive as always so she nudges him.

"Just you and me, buddy," she says. A slight smile cracks on his lips but he stifles it quickly.

"Yeah," he says. "Just like old times." She nods, taking her plasma rifle in her hands. It is starting to show signs of wear and tear, looking more and more beaten and broken each day. But it still served her faithfully. It still worked and is still whole.

Just like she is.

"Yeah," she says, smiling. "Like old times. Let's go."

"I shall follow."

* * *

Black smoke billows out past them as Sunshine's opens the door to the Wilks' house. She coughs and covers her mouth before pushing through the doorway to walk inside. Charon is at her back with his shotgun ready but she doesn't hear the sound of movement inside the house.

All she hears is the crackling of fire.

The living looks torn and collapsed like the rest of the wasteland. Her stomach seems to drop like a stone at the sight of the fire and rubble that takes up most of the room. This is wrong. This is someone's house not a war zone. Where there should have been signs of life shows only death and destruction.

"Hey kid," Charon breathes from behind her, his voice made even more raspy by the smoke. "Do you see that?"

"Yeah," she says, her eyes falling on a body slumped against the edge of one of the bigger fires. "Yeah, I do."


	34. Give Me Fire

Chapter Thirty-Four: Give Me Fire

The walk back to Bryan's Pulowski Preservation Shelter is a long one, even longer than Sunshine's first walk to Megaton after fleeing the Vault. Her steps are heavy and her feet drag across the ground. Clenched in her hand is the only possession they had found on Bryan Wilks' father: a single, rusted key.

She can't imagine how Bryan is going to take the news. She imagines herself in his place, just learning of her father's passing, and she can't come up with anything more than a hollow void. Her father's death would break her and she fears that it'll be the same for Bryan. He couldn't be older than Harden or Maggie, maybe even younger.

She can't even imagine.

She sees her father first, leaning against the side of the shelter, and he's talking to Bryan through the steel walls. Dogmeat leans up against his leg and he reaches down to pet him every so often. A smile lights up his face that brings back a thousand happy memories. He looks up when he catches sight of her and his smile falters. He pushes himself away from the shelter to walk toward them.

"Sweetheart," he says. "Did you find anything?" Her throat tight and unwilling to let her speak, she nods. She doesn't know how she forces the words out but they come out shaky.

"We found him, dad," she says, swallowing. "Bryan's dad."

"Oh, sweetie," her dad says, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She clings to the front of his Vault suit and feels guilty that he's still alive when so many other fathers had been chewed up and spit out by the wasteland.

"How am I going to tell him?" she asks. Her father rubs the top of her head and looks down at her.

"I'll do it. Wait here," he says, turning and walking back to the Preservation Shelter. He sighs, running a hand through his graying hair, and knocks on the door. It slides open to reveal Bryan who looks small against the interior of the shelter.

"Please tell me some good news," he pleads. Her father forces a smile. Bryan seems to deflate at the action. "You don't have good news, do you?" James crouches down to look at Bryan at eye level.

"Son," he says, placing a hand on his shoulder. He affects what Sunshine has always called his 'doctor' voice, only to be used in times of great duress or whenever she got herself into a particularly heinous brand of trouble. "Bryan. I'm sorry, but your father is dead."

"He's-" Bryan starts, swallowing loudly. His voice is barely more than a whisper. "He's dead?"

"Yes."

"I guess I already knew," Bryan says wearily, a slight tremble to his voice. "Besides, I'm too tired to cry anymore." Sunshine brings her hand to her mouth, feeling the hot tears roll down her cheeks and over her fingers. Bryan flings himself at James and hugs him before starting to sob. James hugs him back. Sunshine wipes her eyes and looks up at Charon to steel herself before walking over to them. He moves his eyes over to meet hers and gives her a slight single nod. A hand slides up her back to grip her shoulder firmly. She takes strength from his strength and calms the trembles that rack her body. She nods once to herself before walking over to them, focusing on the two-century old asphalt crunching beneath her feet.

"Bryan," she says. He looks up at her, red faced and teary-eyed. She takes in a deep breath and affects her own version of her father's 'doctor' voice. "Honey-"

"You gotta go after them," Bryan says in a choked voice. "You can't let this happen to anyone else." She nods and, hesitantly, ruffles the boy's hair as a cheap comfort.

"I'll stop whatever started this," she whispers. "I promise."

* * *

The key Sunshine and Charon had brought to Bryan opened the rickety shack next to his house. He told them that his father and a man named Doctor Lesko had built it. Bryan said that he hadn't seen Doctor Lesko, dead or alive, since the ants arrived.

Inside the shack are a lone terminal and a storage dock for a protectron. The dock is empty. Sunshine moves to the terminal and powers it on. The walls of the shack moan against the wind and she shudders. It's so desolate and empty. She sits down to hack the terminal while Charon looks around.

"This looks like somewhere a scientist would work," Charon comment, thumping a beaker. The liquid inside it sloshes onto the table and burns a hole through it. "Not a place to live."

"Yeah," Sunshine says, her fingers typing furiously. The clicking noise echoes through the small shack. "Guess we've figured out how the ants have evolved so fast."

"How does that even work?" Charon asks, picking up a holotape from the table.

"Well," Sunshine says, stopping her hack of the terminal long enough to tap a finger against her lips. "I'm not exactly sure but if I had to guess it would be that this Doctor Lesko introduced a mutagen into the ant's DNA. That is to say, he injected a normal giant ant mother with this mutagen and her children evolved to breathe fire, completely rewriting the ant's DNA and speeding up the process of evolution by several centuries." Charon stares blankly at her in confused silence. She clears her throat and goes back to hacking the terminal. "Of course, that's just a guess."

"Right," he says, turning the holotape over in his hands.

"Got it!" Sunshine says as the terminal flashes. It takes her to some journal entries and she begins to read them. Her brow furrows deeper with every word she reads. Charon walks over to her and leans over her shoulder.

"He chose Grayditch," she says. "He used this place as a testing ground. But his experiments went wrong. I don't think he meant to cause the mutation he did."

"Doesn't matter if he meant to or not," Charon says next to her ear. "He did it." She nods, exiting out of the journal entries.

"He wrote that he found an ideal test subject not too far from here," she says.

"Where at?" Sunshine makes a face before answering.

"Marigold Station metro," she says. Charon smirks, handing her the holotape he'd found. His smirk turns into a full blown grin when that holotape turned out to have the password to the terminal Sunshine had hacked.

"Metro it is," he says with a chuckle.

Sunshine had almost forgotten the way metros smell. She doesn't know she could have ever forgotten. The smell of rot and copper invades her nose, causing her to gag. They encounter another ant a little further into the metro. Charon takes it out before she can draw her rifle.

"Getting a little soft, kid," he says. She makes a face and sticks her tongue out at him.

"Why do you think I keep you around?" she says with a soft smile. He grins and her heart hammers in her chest at the sight.

"It's nice to see you smile," she says. He clears his throat and the smile vanishes.

"Come on, kid," he says, putting that emphasis on 'kid' that she hates. They continue walking and Sunshine pushes down the wave of panic that threatens to drown her when they turn into a narrow maintenance corridor. She takes a deep and shaky breath as she looks down the steps. She looks at Charon and he nods. They walk down the steps and stop when they get to the bottom. The tell-tale sound of the ants scuttling about fills the silence. Sunshine grins, taking her plasma rifle in hand.

"Show you who's soft," she whispers, nudging Charon playfully. She aims her rifle at an ant that scurries into her line of sight.

"Wait," Charon says, placing a hand on the top of her plasma rifle. She makes an impatient noise in the back of her throat. "Look closer, Sunshine. You see the way the air is rippling?" She squints her eyes, trying to see what Charon sees. The air ripples ever so slightly, like water, and know that she knows what to look for she's surprised she missed it.

"What is that?" she asks.

"Gas leak," he says. "Shoot that fancy toy gun of yours and you'll roast us like Brahmin." He wraps an arm around her shoulders and tilts his head to look across the room at a single maintenance closet.

"Come on," he says lowly next to her ear. "I have an idea. Move carefully, be quiet and stay close to me." Swallowing, she nods and follows him as he crouches down and begins to sneak across the room.

The ants swarm across the room and Sunshine stifles a gulp at how many of them there are. The further into the room they get, the thicker the gas becomes and she has to work hard to not choke. If one of those ants were to spot them and shoot fire, everything would be consumed in flames. The thundering in her ears almost drowns out Charon's quiet voice.

"Easy does it, kid," he says. "You're doing fine." She nods, giving him a weak smile. They make it to the maintence closet and Charon turns the opening mechanism on the door. It slides open with a loud creak and the ants become agitated. Charon pulls her inside and she stumbles to her feet, bracing her hands against the wall. She turns in time to see fire fill up the main room as Charon forces the door closed. He twists around in an almost inhuman way, shoulders swelling as he seems to lunge for her. A high pitched yelp gets caught in her throat as her back crashes against the wall. His hands land above her head and she cranes her neck up to look at him. She can see the faintest hint of flames burning and dying behind him.

_He's shielding me,_ she thinks as she feels Charon wince against her. Her arms reach up to wrap around his neck. Her hands lock around his neck. She tells herself she's searching for burns but her touch isn't gentle enough for that. He looks down at her with a strained look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asks, unable to get her voice above a whisper. Charon swallows and nods. "You idiot. You need to stop getting yourself hurt for me."

"I can take it better than you can," he says in that gruff voice she's come to admire. "It's a small injury. Won't even blister." He's so close. She can feel the heat radiating off of him and she swears that if she listens close enough she can hear the beating of his heart over her own. She stands on the tips of her toes to bring her face closer to his. She can make out the weathered parchment-like skin that spans his face like an old map. Her breath ghosts along the cracks and tears that mark his old skin. She pretends that they're roads leading to destinations along the way. She tilts her head up and swallows Charon's ragged intake of breath as she presses her lips to his. His lips are cracked and dry, so unlike her own. His hands flex against the wall and she pulls herself closer to him, feeling him shudder against her. God, she shouldn't do this to him. He's only doing what his contract commands of him. He's her friend of his own volition but how could he see her as anything more? She's just a kid, and his employer besides. She shouldn't do this to him.

But she wants him so badly, cares for him so much, and she kisses him anyway. She doesn't know what scares her more: the fact that she's trying to justify this or the idea that she's about to ruin their friendship forever.

Almost tentatively, his hands slide down the wall to her shoulders. Their eyes never leave each other. He grips them tightly, sliding his hands down her arms and to her hips. She squirms underneath his touch, lips breaking away from his as he pulls her tighter against him. She kisses him again as quickly as she broke away. Charon groans in the back of his throat as he leans her back against the wall. He kisses her like a man dying for lack of air. Her eyes drift closed but before she can lose herself in the feel of him against her, he jerks his lips away from hers. He hunches down, leaning his forehead against hers. She opens her eyes just as he closes his.

"You don't want this," he says, shaking his head even as she leans her head up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.

"Yes I do," she murmurs against his skin. He opens his eyes to look into hers as if searching for a lifeline.

"_You can't_-" he says almost desperately. "You're just a kid. You don't know-"

"Charon," she says and he trembles when she says his name.

"I'm a ghoul," he says, his voice cracking.

"You're perfect," she says softly, her breath ghosting across his lips. She leans up to kiss him again but his hands tighten on her waist almost painfully and her mouth meets nothing but cold air where he had stood. She straightens herself up to look at Charon, who backs away from her as though she were pointing her rifle at him.

"I can't," he croaks in that gruff voice she had come to love. "_I can't."_

* * *

_Finally, _am I right? I'm not too sure about this kiss. I was originally going to wait and have their first kiss happen when Butch showed up, but he's not going to show up for another few chapters. I tried to show some of the misgivings they, especially Charon, would have with a relationship.

So tl;dr, please let me know how this went. Does it seem forced? Does it seem legit? I just feel like I'm rushing this because I'm impatient and I don't want to screw up the flow of the story. DX


	35. Best of Intentions

Chapter Thirty-five: Best of Intentions

They walk at arm's length from each other instead of shoulder to shoulder. The silence seems to sting more and more with every footstep that echoes.

"_I understand,_" she had said. And she did. She is his employer and he is her employee. She has no right to force her feelings on him because of his contract. _He is not a free man,_ she thinks and pulls up the image of that ragged piece of paper in her mind.

God, how could she be so selfish?

Sunshine tries to keep her gaze focused in front of her but she finds her eyes straying back to him. A stoic expression covers his face like a mask and all sign of his earlier pain seems erased. He's all business now, eyes darting back and forth to look for enemies, the perfect bodyguard.

He doesn't seem to acknowledge her at all.

Charon moves his eyes to sweep across their surroundings in an effort to keep from looking at her. Look to the front, look at the walls, look at his goddamned feet but _don't look at her._ His eyes catch her form out of the corner of his eye and he winces. Her shoulders are slumped but she keeps her gaze focused in front of her. The urge to reach out and touch her almost staggers him. He keeps his hands clenched around his shotgun and his gaze forward. He finds it is more difficult to push her from his thoughts. He focuses on the feel of the weathered wooden stock of his shotgun-_firm muscle underneath a weathered vault suit-_ and the burning of his chapped lips-_soft lips, so unlike his own, pressed tenderly against his as if having found something so desperately searched for-_

"Son of a bitch," he mutters.

They come to a metal door and Sunshine can hear the obvious sounds of pacing inside. She hits the opening mechanism for the door and it slides open with a rusted squeaking. A man stops in front of her and lets out an undignified yelp, reaching for a pistol on his hip. He fumbles it and it hits the ground as Charon aims his shotgun at him.

"You startled me!" he sniffs.

"I'm sorry?" she says, motioning for Charon to lower his gun. "We weren't expecting to find anyone alive down here."

"That is _precisely_ why this is the ideal location for my work," he rants, throwing his hands up in the air. She takes a step back and bumps into Charon, who takes a step back away from her. "Do you realize that you're trampling about in a delicately balanced and highly sensitive experimentation area?"

"Well, _excuse us,_" Charon says sarcastically, and Sunshine bites back a grin. "But do you realize that we give precisely _two shits_ about your damned experiments?" The man eyes Charon with alternating looks of shock and indignation, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to form words.

"I'm sorry, sir," Sunshine says, fighting down a chuckle. "But this doesn't seem like much of a laboratory. What exactly are you experimenting on?"

"My experiments are of a complex nature and would take a scientist to discuss," he says. He cups his chin and strokes it thoughtfully. A madness lights up his eyes and Sunshine can't tell if it is caused by excitement or insanity."Oh, wait! I _am _a scientist. How marvelous! You see, I've been foraying into the genetics of these poor beasts in an effort to reduce the substantial girth they've acquired since the Great War. I intend to reduce their immense stature by way of a pre-birth induced mutagen. Isn't that clever?"

"Very," Sunshine agrees. "But that is a far cry from those creatures out there."

"Yes," he says. "In my haste, I used FEV to force the evolution of the ants. But it altered the wrong gene. Instead of a smaller size, they developed an uncanny ability to emit fire from their bodies, which I have dubbed '_pyrosis._'"

"How did hell did you get those things from trying to make them smaller?" Charon asks.

"Yeah," Sunshine says. "I'm surprised you didn't try this in a controlled environment first, Doctor-?"

"Lesko," he says, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair line. "I'm surprised you're familiar with the scientific method."

_It's basic science,_ she bites back the words because, in a wasteland where books in good enough condition to read are a rarity, it _isn't_ basic science. It's an unknown element.

"Yes, well, in my haste for results I may have skipped a basic step or two," he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, as his experiments hadn't burned Grayditch to the ground and cost Bryan's father his life.

"_Haste for results?_" she asks incredulously, dropping her polite demeanor. "Your ants wiped out Grayditch! A little boy out there lost his father because you couldn't wait!" He shrugs nonchalantly and that only serves to deepen the rage that begins to build up in her chest.

"True advancements in science sometimes mean causalities," he says. "An unfortunate, but necessary, fact."

"What about Bryan? The Wilks Boy?" she asks. "His father is dead-don't you care about him at all?"

The look on his face tells her his answer and she feels sick to her stomach.

"You've wiped out this entire settlement," she says through gritted teeth. "Because you couldn't find the restraint to wait and do things right!" He holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender and takes a step back from her. Her voice echoes throughout the narrow office he had decided to take shelter in.

"Now now," he says, talking to her as though she were a child throwing a temper tantrum. "We can fix this, you and I. I may be able to fix this error but only if I can get to my equipment." Sunshine lips are locked in a thin line and she nods.

"If it'll keep these things from burning down what's left of Grayditch," she says. "I'm in." Lesko smiles a frightening sort of smile, showing gleaming white teeth.

"How marvelous," he says.

* * *

"This place is not safe," Charon says, the first words he'd spoken directly to her since the incident in the maintenance closet. Her eyes cut over to him and she can't stop the small smile that comes to her face.

"You say that about every place," she says. He glares at her and crosses his arms.

"I'm serious," he says. A loud scraping echoes throughout the cave Lesko had directed them toward. The walls shake with the force of heavy footfalls from what can only be the ant queen. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," Sunshine admits. "I know Lesko has the best of intentions-" a snort from Charon cuts her off. She gazes at him out of the corner of her eye. "I _like to think _Lesko has the best of intentions but leaving that ant queen alive leaves a sour taste in my mouth. After what happened to everyone in Grayditch it doesn't seem right."

"Yeah. Slimy little bastard didn't seem to care about the residents here, did he?" She shakes her head.

"No," she says. "He didn't." They sneak along cave walls, moving together and falling into old habits. She followed his lead, carefully choosing where to step so as not to give away their position. She had never been good at keeping quiet and that seemed to go double when she re really needs to be silent. Her every footfall seems to echo throughout the cave like an explosion and she bites her lip, concentrating in an effort to make her steps lighter.

Charon moves almost silently. If she hadn't been following him, she wouldn't have even known he was there. He seems to blend into the shadows around them, taking out the nest guardians before she can even aim properly.

"How do you even do that?" she grumbles, gingerly stepping over the corpse of a dead nest guardian. Hesitantly, he holds his hand out for her to take to help her keep her balance. She takes his hand out of habit and freezes, fingers tightening over his palm. She swallows, meeting his eyes.

"_Years_ of practice," he says quietly, and the emphasis he puts on 'years' makes her heart flutter in her chest. Things left unspoken, for better or worse, hang heavy in the air between them.

"Years, huh?" she says in an effort to ease the tension. "No hope for me to learn the secrets of the trade then?"

"You'd need at least a couple of centuries," he says. "Before you could hope to catch up with me." He drops her hand as soon as she regains her balance. They fall back into silence and it is almost like nothing had changed between them. But they had. She could see it in the tense set of his shoulders and hear it in the deep timbre of his voice. Things are different now and she isn't sure things could ever go back to the way they were.

She isn't sure she wanted them to.

They sneak past the opening of a large cavernous room. A lone protectron shambles about aimless in front of the largest ant Sunshine had ever seen. Her eyes widen and she instinctively takes a step back. A curse hisses out from between Charon's lips. A single terminal sits on a rickety table, screen aglow and the generator next to it humming softly.

"This is a bad idea," he breathes from behind her.

"I think I have a better one," she says, being mindful to keep her voice quiet. "You see that terminal? That's how Lesko is controlling the mutagen. Where he's keeping all of his research. If I can get to it, I can shut it down."

"That's a _worse _idea," he says. "That-that _thing_ is going to see you for sure." She pulls her pack off of her shoulder, setting it down with a light thump. She all but tears it open searching for what she needs. She holds up a single stealth boy to show Charon.

"This still has juice in it," she says. She slips it over her wrist. "This should do nicely." A weathered hand reaches out to grab her wrist before she can flick the device on.

"Being invisible won't make you silent," he retorts. He eyes the terminal. "We should just blow the damn generator."

"That'll get the queen's attention for sure," she says, shrugging out of his grip and trying not to focus on the feel of his skin against hers. "I don't think we'll be able to get away fast enough. And if her stress levels elevate that'll adversely affect the mutagen. Besides, I don't want to destroy the research. I just want to shut it down." She feels his eyes on her and so she turns her neck to look at him. She almost wishes she hadn't-the look on his face is livid.

"You want to let that bastard keep his research?" he asks quietly. "After what he did to Grayditch?"

"Best of intentions, remember?" she says. "He's a genius-a little off his rocker, but a genius. If he takes the time to do this right, there is no end to the good he can do."

"He doesn't have the best of intentions," he says lowly. "He's a scientist-they never do. Men like him are the reason the world is the way it is today." She shakes her head and her eyes focused on the terminal. Her mind is already made up. She steps forward, her hand hovering over the stealth boy.

"My father is a scientist," she says. She looks over her shoulder at him. "With the best of intentions. And so am I." The stealth boy putters and she flickers in and out of focus before vanishing completely.

* * *

_God damn kid._

Charon watches her flickering form as she makes her way to the terminal. She's cautious and moves slowly but he can hear her every footstep, the sound of her breathing and what he swears is the beating of her heart. She stops in front of the roaming protectron and he inhales sharply, hands on his shotgun in a white-knuckled grip. It passes her by without notice and she continues on her path to the terminal.

He can tell when she gets there by the furious sound of her typing. It seems to ricochet off the walls of the cave like bullets. Her stealth field flickers and he catches glimpses of the blue of her vault suit. _It isn't going to last, _he thinks desperately. Stealth field technology had been spotty even before the Great War. After the bombs it had only degraded further-there hadn't been the means or the time to perfect the flawed technology.

Sunshine bites back a curse. She can feel the stealth field shimmering around her and hear the crackling of the device on her wrist. She looks down at the offending device and back to the terminal screen. _Just a little more time._ She scrolls through the data on the mutagen-FEV is what Lesko calls it-and she becomes more unsure about her decision to leave the data unharmed with every word she reads. The mutagen is unstable to begin with and holds devastating potential in the wrong hands. Lesko had proven that in Grayditch. But there is also a potential for good that can't be ignored. She cuts her eyes over to the ant queen.

He is just going to have to start from scratch.

Her eyes move back to the terminal screen. This experiment, though a failure, could be the starting point for success. She copies the information onto her Pip-Boy. Satisfied, she shuts it off and begins to rig the machine to explode. If she does this right, the explosion should be big enough to kill the ant queen. The computer hisses as she pulls the back panel off and begins to rig the machine to explode.

"Sunshine," Charon hisses. "Sunshine." She's completely visible now.

And completely oblivious.

"Sunshine," he tries again with no success. She continues to work on the booby trap, blissfully unaware of the protectron that has caught sight of her. He aims his shotgun at the advancing robot, firing a shot off through the CPU located at the top of the head.

Sunshine jumps at the sound of a loud bang. She looks down at her hands and finds that she can see them completely.

"Shit," she says. The ant queen emits a loud screeching sound, less a roar than a gurgled cry of indignation, and spits a green acid at her. A burning engulfs her entire left side and she scrambles away from the ant with a loud cry. She falls, landing hard on her back, and attempts to scurry away from burning sensation. She tears at the sleeve of her Vault Suit, pulling the dissolving fabric from her skin. It feels as though she is on fire and she swears she can hear her skin crackling.

Charon fires his shotgun into the ant's thorax, pausing only to reload. Blasts of green plasma come from behind him. The ant trembles and quakes under the assault and soon quits moving entirely, acidic blood pouring from the holes in the body to scorch the stone floor of the cave. A groan of pain causes him to turn.

Sunshine clutches her plasma rifle, the butt of it against her sternum.

"Charon," she says, her voice strained. "Get the abraxo out of my pack. Hurry." Charon's hands wrap around the backpack before he can realize he moved toward it. He pulls the abraxo cleaner out and is at her side in an instant. Her skin seems to sizzle from the acid.

"What do you need?"

"Pour it on my skin," she says. "Where the acid is. It's a base, and it'll neutralize it." He rips the box open and obeys without question. He rubs it over her chemical burns, fingers splayed over large patches of wounded skin. The acid stops burning her skin and she sighs, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the cave wall. His fingers freeze as he reaches the edges of tattered fabric across her shoulder, pulling strips of gauze away on his fingers.

"Bandages," he says. "You were already covered in bandages."

"Lucky, huh?" she says with a grimace. "They caught most of the acid." He leans over, brushing abraxo powder from her skin. Ugly red and puckered gashes criss-cross over her skin, contrasting sharply against the smooth pale skin he had grown used to seeing.

"Who did this?" He can't get his voice above a low growl. His fingers trace the outline of her shoulder and down her side, catching in the asymmetrical holes that had burned through her Vault suit. He feels bandages through every one. "Tell me, and they'll get theirs. They'll wish they had never been born-"

"No one," she breathes, shifting. Her hand reaches up to her shoulder in an effort to pull her Vault suit over the bandages. "No one that matters anymore."

* * *

This took fooooooooreeeeeeeeever and I'm so sorry. DX I had laptop troubles but everything is in order now! Also, and I just realized this, but I really have a thing for people growling. Like, idk, but I feel like I use it a lot. As always, thank you so much for reading!


	36. Playing Pretend

Chapter Thirty-Six: Playing Pretend

It hurts to walk.

Sunshine leans against the cave walls for support as she takes step by throbbing step. Charon hovers behind her like a ghost but doesn't touch her. She doesn't know how she makes it back to Lesko. Every step is agony but soon her feet bring her in front of the mad scientist.

"What did you do?" Lesko all but shouts. He grabs her shoulders, fingernails digging painfully into her injured flesh. "_What did you do?"_

She doesn't know how she finds the strength to slam him into the wall. She just knows that she does. His eyes widen in surprise and a harsh exhale of breath blows past her cheek.

"I ended your failure!" she shouts back. "Now you have the chance to start over and _do this right._ Do you hear me?"

"I had come so far," he says, his voice breaking. "There were mistakes, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. Now I have nothing."

"Rebuild," she says. "Start over. Don't skip any steps. And, for God's sake, _don't _regulate human lives to 'necessary casualties." Her hands loosen their grip on his shoulders and she untangles them from the fabric of his lab coat. "They're people, not variables. I'll come back and end you if you do something like this again." Eyes wide with both fear and insanity, Lesko nods. She turns from him, keeping her eyes from Charon, and reaches out to grab a spare labcoat hanging on the back of a chair. Pulling it over her shoulders, she shoots a quivering Lesko one last baleful glance before exiting the room.

* * *

James sits with his back against the Pulowski Preservation Shelter that Bryan hides in, eyes looking up toward a gray sky. Dogmeat rests his head in his lap and he absently scratches the dog behind his ears. The corpses of fire ants lay smoking around him and he hadn't had to do a thing.

"How are you doing, son?"

"Fine," Bryan's mumbled voice echoes from the shelter. "Stupid monsters can't get me in here! Are you okay, doctor? Do you want in here?"

"I'm fine, Bryan," James says. "Thank you."

"Where's your daughter?" Bryan asks. "The nice one and her big friend?"

"I'm not sure," James says. "I haven't seen any of those ants since the ones from a while ago frenzied and died." He watches the hazy horizon for any sign of his daughter and her companion. Two faded figures begin crossing over the horizon and he smiles.

"I see them," he says. "Bryan, you can come out now, son." Air rushes past his head as the door to the shelter opens. Bryan timidly pokes his head out of the shelter.

Sunshine sees her father standing up next to the shelter and straightens her shoulders. She inhales sharply as she straightens herself, her injuries pulling tightly. Charon walks a few steps behind her with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The labcoat is too big for her, hanging past her knees and the arms brushing against her waist. But it'll have to do until she can get her vault suit to Moira. Oh, her Vault suit. Her hand reaches up and touches the tattered and burned fabric that used to cover her arm. This suit had been one of the few things she managed to bring with her when she escaped the Vault and now it is half-ruined.

This wasteland seems to ruin everything it touches.

"Sweetheart!" Her father says and her drawn face relaxes into an easy smile, even as his arms tighten across her burns painfully.

"Dad," she says, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and hugs him tightly. "It's over."

"Sweetie," he says, sniffing the air. "You smell like abraxo. Are you all right?"

"Long story," she says. "Where's Bryan?"

"Here!" the child says from behind James almost desperately. "I'm here!" She pulls away from her father and crouches down in front of the boy with a wince.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" she says. "Anywhere we can take you to?"

"I," he says unsurely, looking down at his feet. "I can stay here. Fix up our house. Bury my papa." Sunshine shakes her head.

"I don't want to just leave you here," she says.

"Well, I have an aunt. Aunt Vera. She lives in Rivet City," he says. "But I don't want to trouble you." She smiles widely down at him and musses his hair, the way Charon and her father do to hers.

"It isn't any trouble, even if your new home was in China. We'll get you to Rivet City. Pinky swear." She stands with a soft exhale of breath through gritted teeth. She smiles weakly at her father, keeping her eyes from Charon.

"Better get going," she says, turning. "It's a long walk." The shoulder of the too-large labcoat slides down her arm, pulling at the newly applied bandages. Her hands shoots out to pull it back up before her father can see.

"Sunshine," he says. "Are those bandages?" She winces, pulling the fabric up.

"It's nothing," she starts, but he gives her _that look_, the one she's never been able to mimic, and her voice falters.

"Catherine," he says again and she makes a face. He walks over to her, gingerly patting her shoulder. "Let me see. I'm your father but I'm also a doctor."

"I already took care of it," she grumbles.

"Sweetheart," he says. "I can help." Her hand clenches the fabric of the labcoat before sighing and tugging it off.

"Acid?" he says once he sees the burnt half of her Vault suit.

"The ant queen," she explains.

"Ah! That's why they frenzied," he says. Fingers push and tug at the bandages around her shoulder. She bites back a wince.

"Those are nasty burns," he says. He opens the pack on Sunshine's back, pulling what he was looking for out with ease. It's a small jar and he opens it with a pop. "We'll have to scrounge up some more salve." He slathers it over her shoulder and down her arm. It's freezing and her face scrunches up. But her burns begin to hurt less and for that she is grateful.

"But good thinking with the abraxo. Neutralized the acid with a base."

"Basic chemistry," she says with a small smile, trying to tug her arm away. _Please don't notice_.

"And these cuts," he says. "How on earth did an ant do this?" His voice falters as he tilts his head. He feels the rages edges of one cut and then another. "These have scabbed over. They're days old, maybe a week. You've had these since-" He falls abruptly silent, eyes closing. She averts her eyes down to her feet and adjusts the bandages back over her wounds.

"I bought some antibiotics from Doc Church," she says quietly. "To prevent infection. They're healing up nicely. Probably won't even scar."

"Sweetheart," he says, pulling her into a gentle hug. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Dad," she says. "It's fine."

"I should have-" he says, his voice cracking. "You're my daughter. My child. My baby girl."

_Not anymore,_ she thinks. _Not a baby girl anymore._

"I'm still here," she says, hugging him as tightly as she did when she was a child. "And so are you. That's what's important. That's all that matters to me."

* * *

Moira gasps as Sunshine hands her the Vault suit and she bites her lip.

"Is it fixable?" she asks, hands tugging at the loose threads of the sweater she had pulled on. Moira nods enthusiastically. The mercenary that always leans by the door glares at Sunshine's back, hand on his pistol.

"Watch it," Charon warns.

"Just doing my job," the mercenary says gruffly. Charon eyes his pistol critically, arms crossed over his chest.

"Mine's bigger," he says. Sunshine snorts, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. She knocks a hand into his sternum playfully before she can think better of it.

"Behave yourself," she says. He looks down at her and the first easy smile in weeks cracks over his face. She grins back up at him, eyes lighting up and heart pounding hard against her chest.

"I can fix it up," Moira says, holding the nearly destroyed suit in front of her and eyeing it critically. "I can have done by tomorrow, if you want."

"I would love that," Sunshine says. "How much?" Moira shakes her head, laying the suit across the counter between them.

"Consider it a gift," she says with a huge smile. "After all the help you've given me I'd like to give you something in return."

"Thank you, Moira," she says, oddly touched. "I apprectiate it." Moira shoos her away before digging her tools out from underneath the counter.

"Go on and get some rest. You're going to need it for your trip." Sunshine and Charon exit the Craterside Supply and begin to weave their way through the sagging paths of Megaton.

"It seems like I always end up back here," she says to Charon, gesturing. "Back in Megaton."

"Its home, isn't it?" he asks. "You have a house here. Friends. The townspeople practically worship the ground you walk on-well. The ones that don't worship that damned bomb." She laughs and it sounds a little emptier than usual.

"Yeah, people like me," she says. "More than I can say of 101. But it's never really felt like _home_, you know?"

"Not like the vault?" Charon says. She shakes her head, looking around the scrap metal city.

"No," she says. "That never really felt like home either. I mean, I grew up there, spent my life there, thought I was going to die there. But I never really fit in. Never had family besides my dad. And I was fine with that."

"Until he left," Charon says quietly. She cuts her eyes over to his direction but doesn't really focus on him.

"Until he left," she repeats.

"Where is home for you now?" Charon asks, stepping aside to let her ascend up the steep hill to her house. He stays behind her, keeping an eye on her balance.

"Well," she says with a burst of breath. She doesn't finish until they make it to the top of the hill. "Home? I thought it was buried miles underneath the ground." She looks at him for what seems like the first time in years, green focused on blue with an intensity that makes his mouth go dry.

"Where is it now?" he repeats. He couldn't say why he asks or why he holds his breath as he waits for her to answer."Home?" She smiles, a pink tinge to her cheeks. Her lips purse as though she's biting back something. "What?"

"Wherever I happen to wander," she says. "With you." Charon swallows loudly.

"Sunshine-" he starts, a hand lifting up to touch her face. Calloused and worn fingers stroke her cheek and she closes her eyes with a shudder. Before he can tangle his fingers in her hair she takes a step back from him.

"Charon," she says. "What happened in Grayditch, in the metro. That spur of the moment," she coughs, clearing her throat. "_Incident_."

"Yeah?" he asks, licking his lips to chase away the dryness. She lifts her eyes to the sky.

"We can pretend it never happened," she says, and that stings in a way he didn't think it would. "Go back to the way things were before."

_How? _is what he wants to ask. How could they ever go back 'to the way things were'? How could _he_? He closes his eyes as he remembers the way her lips felt against his. How much he wanted that kiss, how eager she had been. How willing. _How young._

So very young_._

She looks even younger now in that oversized sweater and big eyes that are fixed on him but not really seeing him. Her teeth worries at her lower lip and he desperately wants to kiss her, to soothe away the bite marks, but he does nothing. Says nothing. Her lips turn up into a sad smile and she turns away.

"Yeah," he says and he feels his old heart break even as his mouth forms the words. "That'd be best."


	37. Finally Here

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Finally Here

"I can't believe we're finally here," Sunshine says as they walk through the entrance to Rivet City. She stretches, and the yellow '101' on the back of her Vault suit becomes distorted and bunched up underneath her new shoulder guards. Moira, in addition to repairing the suit better than Charon thought her capable of, improved it by making lightly armored. Sunshine loved it and had been wearing it since she got it back.

"_Suits me," _she had said with a grin.

"Feels like a lifetime," James agrees, ruffling her hair. "Do you think Madison will still remember us?"

"Oh, she didn't seem too likely to forget the last time we saw here," Sunshine says, remembering the woman's perpetual scowl. She smiles down at Bryan, who looks at all of the shops with wide eyes.

"You excited about seeing your Aunt Vera?" she asks.

"Scared," he says quietly, craning his head around her as they pass Flak and Shrapnel's. "There are so many people here."

"It's the safest place in the wasteland," she reassures him. Looking around and remembering the last time she and Charon were here, she amends, "As safe as you can get."

"Sunshine!" A voice echoes throughout the Rivet City marketplace. Her head perks up at the sound of her name.

"I know that voice," she says, looking around.

"So do I," Charon grumbles. Sunshine catches sight of the one who called her name and her mouth seems to explode in a grin.

"Harkness!" she calls back, waving furiously. The android smiles with ease and walks over to the group with a slight limp. "How's your leg?"

"Healing up," he says. She hugs him and he laughs, giving her a tight hug back. "I see the wasteland isn't disintegrated into green goo yet."

"Give it time," she says. "We've barely gotten started."

"I wouldn't say that," Harkness says, eyeing her rifle. "Have you done any maintenance work on that thing at all?" She turns red, avoiding his eyes.

"I've been taking it to Moira," she says. "I don't really know how to fix it myself." He laughs again, ruffling her hair.

"We'll have the fix that, don't you think?" Charon scowls, arms crossed over his chest and fingers digging into his biceps. Sunshine smiles up at Harkness with a light chuckle.

"Maybe, if I can find the time," she says, gesturing to her group. Harkness eyes her group with a raised eyebrow. Charon scowls at him and he gives the ghoul an infuriating wink.

"Let me know," he says. Catching Charon's eye again, he chuckles. "If you can find the time, of course."

"Chief!" A voice calls. "Chief! There's a bar fight down in the Muddy Rudder!" Harkness groans, rolling his eyes heavenward.

"Well, I guess that's my cue," he says. "Gotta go throw someone off the bridge again."

"Best part of the job," Sunshine says. He grins and ruffles her hair before striding off.

"Yeah, good riddance," Charon mumbles. Sunshine elbows him in the ribs playfully.

"Be nice," she chides. He fights the urge to stick his to tongue out and grumbles to himself instead. She smiles down at Bryan and he gives her a gap-toothed smile in return. She wipes some dirt from his cheek.

"You ready to go see your Aunt Vera?" He nods and she ruffles his hair. "Don't worry. She's a bit of a gossip, but a good person. She'll love you."

* * *

"I told you it would work, Madison," are the first words her father says to Doctor Li. Doctor Li freezes, and then turns. She's gone pale and her eyes are wide as she looks at James. Its almost like she's seen a ghost.

"You're alive," she says. James grins at her.

"I was right," he says. "About the G.E.C.K. If we can find one, we can adapt it to work with the purifiers."

"And what makes you think I want anything at all to do with this?" Li asks, her eyes narrowing and her voice back to normal, albeit with a noticeable tremble to it. He steps forward and places a hand on Doctor Li's shoulder.

"Because I know you, Maddy," James says gently.

A loud slap rings out through the Rivet City Science Lab. Charon looks over at Sunshine, who bares her teeth in an almost snarl. James holds his hand up to her and she stays in place, glaring heatedly at Doctor Li. Immediately after the slap landed, Li looks almost regretful.

"I'd like to believe you, James," she says. "But this is all so sudden. And it's failed before."

"I know it has," he says. "But I'm telling you, Madison. This is _real._ I talked to Braun himself. He confirmed it. Don't you see? This is what we've been waiting for-for all of this time." She shakes her head.

"No. What _you've _been waiting for, James. Not me."

"Madison," he says. "I know you, remember? We can purify the entire basin."

"We've tried that before!" she snaps. "And what did we end up accomplishing? _Nothing!_"

"Please," he says. "Trust me. It will work this time."

"So many years have passed," she says, her eyes drifting to Sunshine. "So many years. I don't know if it's even worth trying."

_"Doctor" Li spends all of her time working on hydroponics pipe dreams, _Pinkerton's voice plays in Sunshine's head.

"How could it not be worth improving the lives of everyone in the wasteland?" James asks, and he sounds almost like a young man again. "What could be a more worthy endeavor?"

"And worth a shot," Sunshine pipes up, swallowing her anger. Both Li and her father turn to look at her. She smiles. "After all, what've you got to lose?"

"You haven't lost any of your passion, James," Li muses. Her eyes drift over to Sunshine and the girl squares her shoulders. "And you-you seemed to have inherited it. "

"This is important to me, Madison," he says. "And I know it's important to you too." Hesitantly, he reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder again. She reaches up and places her hand over his. "Let's finish this together- all of us, together." Sunshine smiles up at Charon, swaying a little on her feet. Acting on instinct, he wraps an arm around her to steady her. She leans against him comfortably and her eyes find his.

"'Together," she mouths up at him. He smiles, his arm tightening around her.

"James," Li says. "We don't have a G.E.C.K. I can scrounge a small team together, but they're going to need proof that it works before people start to believe." James nods.

"I know," he says. "There are some old pre-War computers we scavenged at the old lab. They might be useful in finding a G.E.C.K."

"There's no power at the facility," Li says, stepping away from James brusquely. She's all business now. "Even if there was a database, we couldn't access it."

"That's why we're going to make our way there right now and get it running the best we can," James declares. Charon looks down at Sunshine, whose eyes are closed and her head resting against his chest.

"If this were anyone else, I'd have Harkness throw them off the bridge," Li says wryly.

"I know, Maddy," James says softly. "But I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it would work. It's time." Li makes a frustrated 'augh' and Sunshine stirs, lifting her head.

"Damn you, James," she says, pointing her finger at him. "When this is all over, you owe me a drink." James smiles.

"My pleasure," he says. "It's good to be working with you again, Madison." She waves him off, moving to assemble her team. James gins at Sunshine, who moves away from Charon on shaky legs, and holds his arms out. Sunshine hugs him and he laughs.

"We're on our way, honey!" he says. "Project Purity is almost a reality!"

"So what now, dad?" she asks with a smile.

"We'll head to Project Purity and begin working immediately," he declares. "Those computers are out best chance at locating a G.E.C.K." Sunshine stifles a yawn and nods. She slaps a closed fist into her palm.

"When do we start?"

"You should get some rest first," Charon says. Sunshine looks at him like he's grown another head.

"No," Sunshine says. "I'm fine."

"You're dead on your feet," Charon says. She winces. She'd been having trouble sleeping but she didn't think it showed. She'd wanted to get to Rivet City so they could start work on Project Purity, and she had wanted to stay distracted. Sleeping hadn't been coming easy to her and the nightmares that had been plaguing her were something she'd rather avoid. James looks down at her and she ducks her head.

"He's right," he says. "Honey, have you been sleeping?"

"Sure I have," she lies. "But we've just been so busy! I mean, what with the fighting and the science and the saving people. And now we have a clear shot at making Project Purity work. I'm excited!" Charon and her father eye her doubtfully. She purses her lips. "You're not buying it, are you?"

"It wouldn't hurt anything for you to rest, sweetie," James says. "You can meet me at Project Purity when you wake up." Sunshine's lip extends into a pout and when she realizes it, she bites down on it.

"I want to help," she says, stifling a yawn. James laughs and ruffles her hair.

"We won't make any life-changing breakthroughs until you wake up. Pinky swear."

"All right," she grumbles. She turns and makes her way to The Weatherly Hotel, and Charon follows close behind her. Her footsteps seem to echo with every heavy step she takes. It'd be good to check on Bryan, she thinks. And, admittedly, an actual bed did sound a lot better than her bedroll. She wonders if Vera had been able to find any sheets.

"Sunshine!" Bryan waves at her from behind the counter. Vera stops cleaning it long enough to look up and ruffle his hair affectionately. He runs around to the front and stops in front of them. "What brings you guys back so soon? I thought you were going to work on the water thing?"

"Gonna rest up a bit," she says. "How's your Aunt Vera?"

"Well," he says. "It's only been a few hours but she's fine. She makes me do chores but she's nice. A lot like my dad," he says wistfully. He looks up at her with wide eyes. "Thank you again for bringing me here."

"No trouble, kid," she says. She looks over to Vera. "You have any rooms to spare?"

"Just the one," she says, eyeing Charon strangely. "You and your, ahem, _friend,_ going to be okay with that?"

"Perfect," Sunshine says, a little annoyed while counting out the caps to pay Vera. "We sleep in the same bed all the time. Is that a problem?" Charon chokes on his words from behind Sunshine, coughing loudly. Vera flushes and putters about, knocking various things off of her desk in her haste to find the keys to the room. She thrusts them out toward Sunshine, clenched in a trembling hand.

"Here are the keys to your room!" Sunshine takes them with a mutter word of thanks and they make their way down the hall to their rented room. She pushes the door open and immediately heads toward the bed, Charon trailing behind her.

Sunshine plops down on the bed, watching the blankets fly up around her. Charon leans against the doorway, arms crossed and eyes on her.

"We can sleep in shifts," she says, clearing her throat awkwardly. "Taking turns with the bed. I won't make you share-I just said that to rustle Vera." He nods, titling his head against the door frame.

"That would be best," he says. Best, but not what he wanted. Her eyes lift up toward the ceiling.

"Yeah," she says. "It would, wouldn't it?"

"Get some rest," he says, his hand on the doorknob. She perks up.

"Where are you going?"she asks, sounding a bit like a lost child.

"To get some more shotgun ammo," he says. "We're probably going to have to defend the memorial from super mutants or worse." She nods, blonde hair a stark contrast against grey sheets. He moves to leave her to her rest but her voice stops him.

"Charon," she says, her voice small. "If you ever wanna, you know, go back to Underworld, just say the word, okay?" He looks at her over her shoulder.

"You gettin' sick of me already?" He had meant for the words to come out playfully but they just sound clipped and forced to his ears. She sits up like a shot.

"No never!" she says. Clearing her throat, she adds, "Its just that you've done so much, and I don't want you to feel obligated. You-" He makes his way next to her in three long strides and, without thinking, places two fingers against her lips to quiet her. He crouches down so he is eye level with her and says,

"I am with you until you get sick of me. For good or ill." Wide-eyed, Sunshine nods and he tries not to focus on how soft her lips feel against his fingertips. He removes his fingers. "Understand?" Licking her lips, Sunshine replies,

"I understand." He nods and moves back toward the door. Her voice, so quiet that he pretends he doesn't hear it, seems to echo throughout the room.

He closes the door behind him.


	38. Catwalks and Awkward Silences

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Catwalks and Awkward Silences

Charon makes his way through the marketplace, idly eyeing the wares that various merchants are selling. He makes his way through the crowded marketplace to Flak and Shrapnel's booth. Shrapnel sits at the counter repairing a submachine gun and Flak leans over his shoulder to watch him work. Flak looks up as Charon approaches and the old ghoul raises a hand in recognition.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey," Flak answers, craning his head to look behind Charon. "Where's that kid that's always following you around? What's her name? Sunflower?"

"Sunshine," he says quietly. "I came by myself." Flak nods, choosing not to comment and walks over to one of the various wardrobes that he keeps the stock of their store in. He unlocks it and steps back to allow Charon to rummage through it.

"Shotgun shells, same as always?" Flak asks. Charon nods and leans over to scoop up one ragged box on the bottom of the wardrobe. He grunts as his joints pop and a nimble hand snatches the box just out of his reach. He looks up into the smiling face of Harkness.

"What the hell do you want?" he grumbles before he can even think to be polite. The smile never falters from Harkness face.

"You're a cheerful one," he says. He holds the box of ammo out to Charon. "Here." Charon stands up, gritting his teeth at how slowly he straightens his spine. He eyes Harkness warily before accepting the box of ammo.

"Where's Sunshine?" Harkness asks, looking around. _Of course,_ Charon thinks to himself.

"Resting," Charon says curtly. "Kid's had a rough time of it." Harkness nods, as if in understanding, and crosses his arms.

"And Project Purity?" At the disgruntled look on Charon's face, his grin grows even wider. "Li told me she might need me to throw someone off the bridge. Once she calmed down, she told me she was leaving to work on a 'Project Purity' and if she was needed to just head over to the Jefferson Memorial."

"We haven't started but James and the kid have high hopes for it. If you'll excuse me," he says, turning away from Harkness stiffly.

"You don't like me very much, do you?" Charon looks into Harkness' face, a face he recognizes, and hears a voice float to him from the past.

_Aw hell, sarge. You're grumpy as all get-out, aren't you?_

"I don't like much of anyone," Charon says. "And neither do you." Harkess arches one perfectly symmetrical and artificial eyebrow.

"What makes you say that? I think I'm a hell of a people person, if I do say so myself." His voice drops in volume and he says lowly, "Despite not actually being a person."

"You're a soldier," Charon says and Harkness stiffens ever so slightly. _Hell of a convincing automaton_, he thinks to himself. "You shoot first and save the pleasantries for later. Eventually you were promoted to Captain of the 55th Infantry Division. But you started as a bushy eyed kid back in '68. Barely eighteen. Had the whole world ahead of you but no people skills. Your wife could have attested to that." Harkness had moved back from Charon as he spoke. His arms are crossed tightly over his chest and his posture has stiffened. He no longer has that cocky nonchalant air about him.

"Those are my memories," he says. "Well, the memories Pinkerton implanted in me. How do you know all of that? Did he tell you?"

"No, Jack," Charon says. "He didn't." After a tense and powerful silence, Harkness asks quietly,

"Harkness wasn't someone Pinkerton made up, was he?"

"No," Charon says. "I served with him. Trained him, back when I was a soldier in the U.S Army. Before the world went to hell in a hand basket." _And at the height of my conditioning. _Harkness tilts his head.

"You aren't in these memories. At least, not as you are now."

"No," Charon says, surprised at how easy his voice sounds. "I suppose I'm not."

"You remember anything else?" Harkness asks, and Charon is surprised at the lack of bitterness in his voice. He'd expected the android to be angry but he only sounds weary and that causes a heaviness to settle in his stomach.

"No," he says, turning his back and feeling sorry that he said anything at all.

"Not even your real name? So I know what to call you? I don't think Charon was the name you were born with." Charon wishes he'd shut up or be asking out of malice. But he sounds genuinely curious, sounds almost longingly now that he knows that the past in his head was real. He wonders if Harkness has any friends besides Sunshine.

"It might as well have been," he answers and his voice is a little sharper than he'd meant it to be. Harkness nods and backs up a step. He picks a magazine up from the corner of Sharpnel's desk and holds it out to him. _Future Weapons Today _declares the peeling and torn cover.

"For Sunshine," he offers. "So you can teach her about her rifle." Charon nods stiffly and takes it from him. Harkness smiles a strange sort of half-smile.

Charon flees from Flak 'N Shrapnel's but his past haunts him all the way to the Jefferson Memorial.

* * *

A cry echoes throughout the room and Sunshine flies up with a strangled gasp. The blankets tumble from the bed onto the floor and she inhales with a deep, shaky breath. Running her hand through her hair, she catches sight of her Pip-Boy.

_6:30, _the twinkling green numbers read.

"Huh," she says. "Almost two hours. That's pretty good, huh boy?" Dogmeat barks, rolling around at the foot of the bed. Still she finds herself running a hand longingly over the blankets and sheets of the bed. The Weatherly Hotel boasted that it housed the most comfortable beds in the Wastleland and Sunshine agreed. The beds were even comfier than her bed in Megaton.

However, that did little to help her stay asleep. Some things couldn't be pushed away with comfort or fatigue. She stretches, trying to ease away some of the stiffness and tension that has settled in her muscles. She pops and creaks like the worn out bed frame and stands from the bed. Her stomach growls but she doesn't much feel like eating. She pulls her boots on and swings her plasma rifle over her shoulder. Dogmeat trails behind her, tail wagging. If he is bothered by not getting more sleep, he doesn't show it. She opens the door to her rented room and makes her way through the boat to the marketplace. She'd better head to Project Purity. Maybe she should find Charon and they could go together. She licks her lips and sighs. Things had been frosty between them and she wasn't sure how to act around him anymore.

Harkness, along with most of his security force, is sitting at Gary's Galley. He takes a deep swig of beer and laughs at something one of his guards said. He looks tired, as tired as an android is able to and she wonders if he's told anyone. She ducks out of sight when he lifts his head. She wants to be alone and she isn't sure how she feels about that. She darts past Seagrave Holmes' trinket shop, Potomac Attire, and Flak 'N Shrapnel's. She bounces up the steps to the exit and pushes the door open.

The sun is setting over the Potomac River and her eyes trace the shaky reflection of it in the water. After unloading some of her purified water to Carlos, she makes her way down the stairs. She shivers in the cooling air and begins the short walk to the Jefferson Memorial. She tries to stay on her guard, knowing that even though her destination is a short distance away, she could fall into trouble. Life is dangerous out in the Wasteland. But the night is silent. All she can hear is the pitiful flowing of the river and ship that houses Rivet City creaking against the wind. Even Dogmeat seems completely silent.

It's almost peaceful and that scares her because she's forgotten what peace feels like.

"Hello, sweetie!" Her father's cheer is infectious and she finds herself grinning as she waves at him. He and the Rivet City scientists are standing outside of the Memorial, drinking bottled dirty water and leaning against the crumbling brick walls.

"Hi Dad," she says, surveying the pile of super mutant corpses that he and the Rivet City scientists had dragged out of the memorial. "You guys have been busy." He grins, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Yes, we have! But don't worry, we didn't do it alone!" At the moment, the door to the memorial opens and Charon exits with a grunt. He drags a rather large super mutant corpse over his shoulder, the feet of it kicking up dust, and he moves past them to deposit it onto the large pile already amassed.

"That's the last one," he says. He cracks his neck and catches Sunshine's eye. They stare at each other in uncomfortable silence. "I thought you were still sleeping," he says after a moment. She shrugs.

"I feel perfectly fine," she says. "Good as new." He eyes her doubtfully and she gives him a huge and tight grin.

"You sure?" he asks. He hovers near her, anxious and like he wants to reach a hand out to touch her. But he doesn't and she finds herself missing that would-be-closeness. She nods.

"I'd like to keep busy," she says, keeping her voice from shaking. "Do something productive." He nods and she feels her father's hand grip her shoulder.

"I'm sure we'll find something," he says with a sad smile. The group turns and they begin to walk into the Jefferson Memorial. The inside is worse than Sunshine remembers. She eyes the rubble and the rusted equipment and thinks that their small group will have their work cut out for them. Doctor Li brought some people with her from Rivet City's Science Lab. To her dismay, there are not as many as she thought there would be. She sees Janice, Doctor Li's assistant and three other men she recognized from around the lab but didn't know the name of. One of them glares heatedly at her and she isn't sure why. Maybe because she wasn't here to help clear out the super mutant corpses?

"This place could really use some tidying," she says. The man who has been glaring at her since she'd arrived scoffs but she doesn't pay him any mind.

"All in due time," her father says. "Now that we've dragged the super mutants out so they won't stick up the place, the priority is to get Project Purity up and running." She nods, and opens her mouth to speak, but an agitated voice cuts in.

"That's all well and good, _Dr. Maddox,_" the glaring man says with unmasked contempt dripping in his voice. "But some of us didn't get to sleep all day like Sleeping Beauty over here and we'd like to get our four hours, if you'd be so kind."

"Of course, Daniel," James says politely. "My apologies." Daniel huffs and pushes past Sunshine, glaring at her all the while. One of the other men that she doesn't recognize follows behind him and pats her shoulder almost apologetically.

"Someone is a little grumpy," she says. James nods.

"Yes," he answers. "My fault. But nothing I can fix at the moment." He looks at Sunshine with a cautious optimism and asks, "Are you ready to get to work, sweetheart?"

"Born ready," she says without a moment's hesitation and her father rewards her with a weary smile.

"Well then, let's get to work."

* * *

Charon walks the perimeter of Jefferson Memorial, taking in all of the details. The Memorial lies at the very edge of the Tidal Basin and about half a mile from Rivet City. Those are its only redeeming qualities. The sprawling nature of the Memorial's catwalks make it almost indefensible. Ideally, there would need to be a patrol but he was only one man and the only other person he could trust to defend themselves, let alone the Memorial, would be Sunshine. But he couldn't put her on patrol, not when she is needed to work on the purifier.

Remembering the look on her face at the thought of working on the purifier makes Charon smile despite himself. It had been an expression of absolute joy overtaking the weariness and it had made him feel happy to see her happy, though he would never express it.

Couldn't express it.

He sighs and he cups the back of his neck with his hand. He's gone over this with himself more times that he cares to remember. She'd kissed him. His heart thumps wildly in his chest whenever he thinks of it.

_You're perfect,_ her voice plays in his head. He smiles ruefully and looks down at his arm, lined with patches of ancient skin and ugly, uncovered muscle. She had kissed him, and held him, and had seemed so genuine in her affection. In his entire two centuries of life, he feels that the hardest thing he had ever done was to push her away and further the distance between them.

"Cracks in the southern facing wall," he hears her voice before he sees her. He walks toward her voice on instinct and sees her down by the back of the building, completely absorbed with speaking into her Pip-Boy. "Nothing too extensive on this side. At worse we'd have to worry about it leaking when it rained." She looks up at the sky and then back down at Dogmeat. "No chance of that, any time soon." The dog yips, catching sight of Charon and wagging his tail.

Charon slips underneath the guardrail and lands on the ground a little ways away from her with a loud thud. To give her credit, she doesn't startle like he thought she would have. The only sign he gets that he surprised her is the way her chest heaves with the effort of fast and heavy breathes.

"Charon!" she says affectionately. She makes a move to step closer to him but stops herself. _Keep your distance, remember? _ "How's the security check?"

"Lousy," he grumbles. "The place is indefensible because of the catwalks at worst and a pain in the ass at best. There's no way I can patrol it effectively by myself. Your father and Doctor Li something about the Brotherhood of Steel, but I doubt we could persuade them." She nods in agreement and says almost thoughtfully,

"They aren't very friendly. Or patient."

"We'll have to hire someone to help with it." Her brow furrows.

"Do we have the caps for that?" she asks. He shrugs.

"We'll have to make do," he says. He notices that her plasma rifle is nowhere to be found. "Do you have a weapon on you?" She nods and pivots, showing him a pistol attached to her hip.

"My rifle is in need of repair," she says. "I'll take it to Flak 'N Shrapnel's once we get settled in." Remember the copy of _Future Weapons Today_ Harkness had handed him, he says,

"I could probably take a look at it for you." Conflicting emotions flicker across her face and she's silent a moment before answering.

"That's great," she says. "If you can find the time." He nods.

"I'm sure I can." Awkward silence falls where normally conversation takes place and she shifts on the balls of her feet.

"I guess I'll go finish recording the damage," she says lightly, walking past him and around the side of the building. He takes note of the careful way she avoided touching him as she squeezed by him and chides himself at the flash of hurt that runs through him. _It's better this way._ "Good luck with the rest of your security check. Hope it goes better for you."

"You too, Sunshine," he says. She disappears around the corner of the building and he hears her clear her throat.

"Eastern side-not much damage besides a few missing or dangling guardrails on the catwalk. Note: I've been informed that the Memorial will be difficult to defend because of the catwalks. It would be a good idea to gather funds to hire protection." He listens to the quiet hum of her voice as it fades in the distance and shakes his head, continuing his walk of the perimeter. But he makes sure to double back and keep an eye on Sunshine until she walks back into the memorial.

She never notices.

* * *

Sunshine returns to her father with a holotape detailing all the damage she could find. He's huddled over a decrepit desk looking at what seem to be blueprints.

"Here ya go, dad," she says, startling him from his study. She hands him the holotape. "It's a bit long."

"Thank you, sweetheart," he says, taking it from her with a grateful smile. She appreciates the gesture, even though they both know that he gave her that assignment to keep her busy. She forces herself to return his smile.

"Anything else, dad?" He shakes his head, tilting it back down toward the blueprints.

"Not tonight, honey. We'll get a fresh start in the morning."

"Right," she says, understanding the not-so-subtle urging to try and sleep again. God, does she really look that tired? "I guess I'll go to bed then." He nods.

"I'm going to turn in soon, too," he says absently, turning one of the blueprints to the side. All at once it hits her how tired her father sounds.

"Don't stay up too late," she says in an effort to tease him. "Big day tomorrow." He smiles.

"Good night, sweetie. Sleep well." She calls Dogmeat and the two of them make their way to the part of the basement that had been converted to sleeping quarters. She sees the bunks with their occupants and resignedly makes her way to an empty one. She picks one in the corner, away from everyone else, and ignores the way Daniel lifts his head off of his pillow just to glare at her.

"That mutt isn't seriously going to sleep in here, is he?"

"Go fuck yourself," she mutters half-heartedly, too tired and weary to think of being polite. "He's potty trained." Daniel makes an indignant noise.

"He _stinks,_" he hisses.

"So do you, Daniel," Janice calls from across the room. "And we're not making you sleep outside. Leave the girl alone." He huffs and pulls a tattered blanket over his head, muttering darkly,

"Oh sure, cater to Maddox's wittle baby and completely ignore the comforts of others."

"Agincourt," Li says from the bunk below him. "You are sleeping on a two hundred year old mattress in a basement that was recently occupied by super mutants. One raggedy mutt is not going to make it worse. Quit your bitching and go to sleep." Daniel falls silent at that, glaring at Sunshine from underneath her pillow. She plops down on her empty two century year old mattress.

"Up, boy," she says loudly, just to spite Daniel, and Dogmeat jumps on the mattress next to her, plopping down on his belly. She wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his fur. Daniel is right-he does stink-but she doesn't care about the smell. Dogmeat is the one living being besides Charon that makes her feel safe at home and she really didn't want to think about what she would do to Agincourt if he said anything against her bodyguard.

Besides, she didn't think Charon could stand to be in the same space with her since she'd up and stupidly kissed him so that worked out just fine.

"You're brilliant, Sunshine," she mutters darkly to herself. "Go and ruin your relationship with the one person besides your father in the whole goddamned wasteland that gives a shit whether you live or die." But that is just it, isn't it? Charon _did _care about whether she lived or died. But was it because he cared for her genuinely or because it was part of his contract to care? Sunshine feels a tight knot deep in her chest at the thought of Charon having to care for her welfare because he was brainwashed years ago and not because he wanted to. Not because he chose to. Not because he loved her.

Because she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how she felt about him but she'd never say it to him. She would never put him into that position.

"I love him," she says into Dogmeat's fur and his ears twitch at the words spoken. It felt nice to say it, even if she couldn't say it to him.


	39. Work to be Done

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Work to be Done

Sunshine wipes the sweat off of her brow with the rolled up sleeve of her Vault suit. She'd been helping Agincourt attempt to clear out some of the debris in the Memorial and it isn't a job he is particularly happy about.

Or maybe he just isn't happy about who he has to work with.

She drops the piece of rubble she'd just picked up. It is a little heavier than she expected it to be and she couldn't keep holding it. It lands with a loud thud, cracking the already ruined tile even further.

"Looks like someone's a bit clumsy today," Agincourt says. She glares at him.

"Looks like someone isn't being particularly helpful," she says. He shrugs, walking past her with a piece of rubble twice the size of the one she couldn't lift.

"Not my fault you can't carry your own weight," he says, a little breathlessly and with a lot of effort, before hauling it out of the room.

"I hope you drop it on your foot," she calls after him. She looks down at the piece of rubble again-a boulder, really, taunting her like she was Sisyphus- and she crouches down to attempt to pick it up again. It doesn't work. It stays firmly rooted to its spot on the ground and all she gets for her effort is a pulled muscle in her shoulder.

"Stupid boulder, why won't you-augh!" She stands and gives it a frustrated kick. She yelps at the pain and bites back a particularly colorful curse that she'd learned from Butch.

"That probably wasn't the best idea," an amused and gruff voice says from behind.

"Yeah well, I'm chock full of bad ideas these days," she says before thinking better of it. The smile falls from Charon's face and she feels a stab of pain for chasing it away.

"Exhibit A," she mutters. A little louder, she asks, "Did you need something?"

"I wanted to go scout out potential candidates for security around the Memorial," he says, strictly business once more. She nods.

"Now that's a good idea," she says in a weak attempt at a joke. He takes a step closer to her and tilts his head down to look at her. Her heart pounds wildly in her chest and she forces herself to avert her eyes.

"I won't be back until late," he says quietly. "Will you be all right while I'm gone?" She bites back the words asking him to let her come with him. He won't be gone long and she's needed here. Her father had already asked for her help to clear the flooding in the sub-basement and to restore power to the mainframe.

"Fine," Sunshine says, clearing her throat. "I'll be fine. I'll protect everyone while you're gone." A ghost of a smile cracks over his face and he ruffles her hair affectionately before he can think better of it.

"I know that you will," he says. She tentatively smiles up at him through her bangs and opens her mouth to reply. Before she can say anything, however, a loud scoff sounds out from behind them. Charon pulls his hand away from her hair and she looks over her shoulder to see Agincourt with a look like he can't quite decide to be disgusted or amused.

"If you're done making googly eyes at your," he looks Charon up and down before continuing with distaste. "_Bodyguard_, then I suggest you kick it into high gear. We have work to do."

"_Asshole_," she hisses under her breath. She looks up to see Charon has already moved to the doorway. He stops by the doorframe and looks back over his shoulder at her. He gives her a soft smile before turning and walking into the hallway. She listens to his footsteps echoing across the broken tile and hears the squeaking of the hinges as he opens the door into the wasteland.

It is only until she hears the door shut that she gets back to work.

* * *

Charon walks away from the Memorial, shotgun strapped to his back and the sum rising in front of him. There is an unnatural quiet hanging in the wasteland air that makes him a little uneasy until he realizes the source of it.

It is silent because no one is talking. No voices talking excitedly about the finer points of water purification. No radio to crackle in and out of worn speakers. No mutt barking happily at his feet. No cheerful voice to poke fun at him and make him smile. Of course, that cheerful voice had been subdued as of late and he didn't much care to think about why. So he thought about anything and everything else in its place.

Where could he find reliable security for the Memorial? He couldn't be on guard all hours of the day. And Sunshine, though reliable, wouldn't be enough. Her skills didn't lie with guns or combat but with medicine and science. She would be better suited to work with her father and the other Project Purity scientists. Charon is both loathe to pull her away from that work and to put her in danger. He had friends in Underworld but that was a day's walk through the metros, if not more. He didn't want to leave the Memorial-and in particular, Sunshine-unguarded for so long.

The towering giant of Rivet City looms to his left and he eyes the rickety catwalks. Couriers sometimes frequented The Muddy Rudder. Maybe he could send word to Underworld. If he were still in Ahzrukhal's employ, he'd call in a favor from Commader Jabsco. Ahzrukhal had been fond of the Talon Company's leader and the man owed him a few favors. But Ahzrukhal was dead and Charon felt no love for the Commander. The last thing they need at the memorial are a bunch of Talon Mercenaries.

"Hey," a guard says outside of the entrance to Rivet City. She looks him up and down critically while her partner bites back a yawn. "You with the scientists over at the Memorial? The ghoul Sharon?"

"Charon," he corrects gruffly. "Whose askin'?"

"Chief Harkness," she answers and he bites back a groan.

"What does he want?" She shrugs, pushing herself off of the wall.

"Didn't say. Just told us to keep an eye out for you."

"I think he wants to talk to you," her partner pipes up. He's a short, stout man-a perfect contrast to his slender and tall partner, who rolls her eyes- and he steps forward to offer Charon his hand. The ghoul doesn't take it, instead narrowing his eyes at the man. He lets his hand drop to his side carelessly, and offers,

"We can take you to see him, if you'd like?"

"And if I don't like?" Charon says. The man looks shocked, as if the thought had never crossed his mind.

"Then we can take you in, the hard way," the woman growls. She hits her partner in the arm with an audible thump. "Jesus, Costello, what did the Chief say about being so friendly?"

"Nothing," he protests. "At least not to me." She rolls her eyes and turns to Charon.

"Are we going to have to do this the hard way?" He opens his mouth to give her a rebuttal but stops himself short. It might not hurt to hear what Harkness-_the automaton_, he chides himself-has to say. He made Charon uncomfortable because of memories long past but that wasn't his fault. Besides, Sunshine liked him.

"Lead the way," he says. The woman eyes him again before motioning him to walk ahead of them. Behind him, he hears the man say,

"Abbott, what did the Chief say to you?"

"Said you were like a newborn babe with a thousand yard stare and a goofy smile, trusting everyone you came across. Said you made a lousy security guard and that he should have just made you the door greeter." The man, Costello, gasps in indignation.

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"He did not!"

They keep up the unending banter of 'he did, he did not' up the stairs all the way up to the bridge. By the time they make it to their destination, Charon's head hurts from rolling his eyes heavenward and asking God what he did to deserve this. Harkness has his feet propped up on the table and he grins when he sees Charon.

"Don't you ever work?" Charon mutters darkly.

"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life," he says. "How's our beautiful ray of Sunshine?"

"Fine and hard at work, not that it's any of your business." Harkness holds up his hands and mouths 'touchy' to Charon's escorts. Charon glares at him but Harkness' grin only widens.

"What do you want, Harkness?" Charon asks, annoyance creeping into his voice. "I'm a little busy."

"Trying to find security for the Memorial," Harkness says. At Charon's disgruntled look, he adds, "Madison came by early and kicked me out of bed. She said I was to help you with whatever means I had at my disposal. That woman is nothing but forceful."

"No kidding," Charon says under his breath.

"I kind of like it," Harkness says with a completely straight face and Costello laughs. Even Abbott manages a small smile. "'Course, she could take lessons in sweetness from our favorite Vault Dweller-"

"All right," Charon says abruptly. "What do you want and what does it have to do with the Memorial?"

"Well," he says, drawing out the single syllable word. "I _am_ the security chief of Rivet City and I _kind of_ have this security force at my disposal." He grins impishly and Charon is amazed at how similar it looks to the one the original Captain Harkness wore.

"I'm grateful," he says and, surprisingly, he means it. "But don't you need everyone here?"

"Memorial's just half a mile," he says. "Practically down the street. I can call them back if they're needed." In a more subdued voice, he adds, "I'm afraid I can't send as many people as I would like." Charon nods.

"I'll take whoever you can send. When can I meet them?"

"Charon," Harkness says. "Meet Officers Abbott and Costello. They've been dying for a change of pace." Charon eyes his two escorts. Costello gives him a small wave and Abbott elbows him sharply in the ribs.

Charon bites back a groan. _Maybe he should have just hoofed it to Underworld._

* * *

Sunshine wipes the sweat from her brow. She exhales, admiring the work that she and Agincourt managed to get done. They had cleared most of the large rubble from the concourse and repaired the barricades well enough to hold up against an attack. It isn't beautiful but damned if she wasn't proud.

"Pretty good work," she says. "Don't you think?"

"Its ugly as ever," Agincourt says. "Don't pretend this was anything other than busy work." She tries not to huff. She dusts her hands off and the two of them silently make their way to what used to be a break room for the Memorial employees. She ignores the rumbling in her stomach and her eyes make their way to the doors that lead to the Rotunda.

"You ever think Project Purity will work?" she asks, partly in an attempt to make conversation with Agincourt and partly to fill the silence that seems to seep into her very being.

"The hell do you care?" he says, almost as if the antagonism has become a habit. "You show up, what, five minutes ago and now you're strutting around like you own the place. " He pitches his voice in a falsetto. "Let me help you' this, 'oh I think that won't work because of an overwrought scientific explanation no one understands' that." The door to the aging break room swings shut behind them.

"What the hell is your problem?" she snaps, her voice echoing in the tiny room. "Ever since we've started working here you've done nothing but ride my ass!"

"My problem,_ Sunshine,_" he says, drawing out her name mockingly. "Is that you shouldn't be here. Unlike some people around here, I stuck with Doctor Li through it all. I was the last to leave when we finally gave it up. Now your daddy shows up out of the blue and I have to drop everything to help pick up the pieces!"

"He's just trying to do the right thing," she says. He snorts, yanking open the door to an ancient and rusted fridge.

"Sure, sure," he says sardonically. "The right thing. No matter that he takes off for twenty years and leaves us hanging. Not like we have lives or anything. Not like we have people we want to keep happy." He looks at her and for the first time she feels like he isn't really looking at her but through her to the past. His eyes narrow.

"Do you know how miserable Madison was?"

"I'm sorry," she says because she doesn't know what else to say. He snorts again, nudging the fridge door closed without getting anything.

"No, you're not. You're just some punk kid running around trying to make herself feel important and commandeering someone else's dream." He almost seems to deflate, sagging against one of the counters as though he could no longer support his own weight.

"Go do whatever it is you need to be doing," he says wearily. "And leave me the hell alone."

She is only too happy to oblige him.

* * *

She makes her way to the Rotunda where her father is working. She opens the door to the whirring of machines and the bubbling of water. Dogmeat lifts his head as she walks up the stairs and gives her a happy bark. She kneels down to pet his head before straightening up to find her father.

He's standing in front of the console, staring into the water that surrounds the statute of Thomas Jefferson. His arms are crossed and he looks thoughtful, worrying lines creasing his face.

"Do you remember your mother's favorite Bible passage?" he asks when she stops next to him.

"'I am the Alpha and Omega,'" she says, reciting it by heart. "'The beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a-thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.'"

"Revelation 21:6," he says, his head bowed toward the keyboard as if in prayer. He looks up at her and she sees the dark circles underneath eyes that match hers. "What do you see, sweetheart?"

_A tired old man who needs nothing more than rest,_ she thinks, the words on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she looks into the water tank.

"Thomas Jefferson and a whole lot of water waiting to be purified," she answers instead. He nods.

"This is what it all means," he says. "The water, the purifier. The waters of life. Your mother's dream." She thinks back to the holotape she'd found in the catacombs of the basement, of the happy voices and cheerful laughter of a mother she'd never knew. Her heart hurts and she grasps her father's shoulder. He pats her hand and they both watch the dirty water swirl around the submerged statue.

"No sense in wasting anymore time," her father says finally. "There is much work to be done."

* * *

Another two-parter you guys. Sorry. D: Also I accidentally pop culture reference


	40. So Quick To Blame The Gods

Chapter Forty: So Quick to Blame the Gods

Sunshine stands in the lower levels of the sub-basement listening to the echoes of the water splashing from the walls and ceiling. With no one to work on the purifier some of the pipes had decayed and caused flooding. As a result, the doors to the mainframe that powered the entire memorial were sealed. She hadn't really been doing much, just repairing switches and flipping them. She swears as sparks fly out, signaling that she repaired the pump control box. She activates it and hears a soft whirring noise. She hits the button on the intercom.

"Okay, I managed to restore power to the Flood Control Pumps. What's next, Dad?"

"Good work!" her father's voice crackles over the intercom, sounding both pleased and tired. "The pumps have been activated and now some of the doors of working. We'll have to wait until the water clears out completely to continue working. I have some fuses for you when it does."

"Ok," she says. "Sounds good. I'll be up in a bit." She releases the intercom button and walks away. She leans against the doorway to a larger room of the subbasement that she and Charon passed through the last time they were here. Two large areas filled with water are in the middle of the room and she stands to listen to the sound of the water being drained away. She looks up through the rafters to see the large door that leads to the mainframe. She can't wait to crack it open and restore full power to the Memorial. So far, she and the other scientists had only managed to restore power to localized areas of the Memorial and it was nowhere near enough to power up the terminal systems.

She listens to the sounds of doors sliding open echoing throughout the basement. They open with loud creaking sounds as though they were crying out in a weary victory. Some of these doors hadn't been opened in two hundred years. Sunshine grins to herself as she turns away from the stairs that lead up to the rotunda, and begins walking down the stairs that lead further into the basement. A little exploration wouldn't hurt. She doubted that anything could live in two hundred years worth of irradiated, stagnant water. Or in the rooms that had sealed themselves off against the flooding.

Another loud screech of a door opening startles her, prompting her to unholster her plasma rifle. _Well, _she amends to herself. _I'll keep my guard up anyhow._

Water splashes faintly around her boots, echoing throughout the silence. She focuses on the silence and listens for sounds of splashing that don't come from her. The smell of mildew and rot becomes stronger the further down she goes and her nose crinkles at the thought of having to clear out the mess. The first room she peeks into makes her gag. It had been a storage room for food. Unidentifiable black things line rusted metal shelves. She sees a few cans that seem worth scavenging. She takes a deep breath and holds it, darting in quickly and gathering what she thought they could use. She coughs as she makes her away out, rubbing at her face with the sleeve of her vault suit.

"Bleh," she says, spitting in an attempt to get the dry fuzziness out of her mouth. The next room housed bunks whose mattresses had rotten through because of moisture and disuse. She opens the locker to find ruined power armor and decaying weapons. She finds ammo in boxes that fall apart to the touch and wonders if any of it is usable. She pockets it. She'll ask Charon-he has a better head for that sort of thing than she does. She eyes all of the ruined armor and weapons with a critical eye. _Weird,_ she thinks. _Almost like a makeshift military base or something._

The next room elicits a yelp of delight. It looked to be an entertainment room of some sorts. Holotapes and pre-war books line the near ruined shelves. Some of the books and holotapes seem to be in passable condition while others fall apart to the touch. She picks up a holotape and plays it with her Pip-Boy. The screen turns to static and a high pitched whirring sound comes out of her speakers. Wincing, she takes the holotape out.

"That one is ruined," she says, tossing it to the side. She slides another one in and is pleased to find that it still works, even if the sound is slightly muffled. It's some sort of movie starring a man in a ridiculous hat and long scarf speaking in an accent she is unfamiliar with. She lets it play as she continues to browse the books on the shelves. She finds a near intact copy of _The Odyssey_ and squeals in delight. She sets it aside reverently in her pack before continuing to browse. She finds a ledger labeled _A Study in the Future Preservation of the U.S Commonwealth._ The words on the spine were handwritten, the ink faded and patchy. She gently takes it off the shelf and opens it. It's more of a journal than a book and she trembles a little at the thought of holding one of the last intact accounts of the history of the world before it all went up in flames. She opens it, blowing a little dust away from the pages.

_17 February 2054_

_ Project Eusebeia is off to a shaky start. I was just barely able to receive the green light for it. The higher ups aren't too happy with the terms I've announced but we must fight fire with fire. We, as a nation cannot…_

She squints, skimming down the page. Some of the words are missing from water damage and the ravages of time. She continues to read what she can.

_…a young boy, aged 11, son of Thaddeus Triggs…Major of Hades Company. A bright lad, to be sure. Clever and strong…hell of a way with firearms. Loyal to his father, absolutely adores the idea of being a soldier...is in love with the idea of serving the US Commonwealth. Damned nationalism is at least good for this… _

Her brow furrows and she turns a few pages.

_25 March 2059_

_…of course his mother begged us to wait a few more years but nonsense…sixteen is a perfect age…most men in the infantry sign on younger than that, through falsification and luck of course…the boy is eager to serve his country…will be under my care until further notice. Can't have the ravings of a woman mad with grief…lost Major Triggs to Communist counter-fire…sad state of affairs but…To start conditioning as soon as possible…_

She tenses up and rereads the passage to ensure she read it right. _Conditioning. _To her, that word only had one horrible connotation and that was to subjugate, to serve, to make a living, breathing person in the image that was wanted with so much pain and despair that whoever they were before shatters like glass. The wounds from Paradise Falls, just now scarring over, seem to burn and she shudders. Unsure as to whether to continue, her hand idly lingers over the pages. She swallows, her mouth dry from dust and anxiety (_'I will love my master. I will do every little thing he wants, no matter how small)_ and she slams the book shut. Taking in a shaky breath of air, she contemplates throwing the book across the room. Something told her it wouldn't be a story she'd want to finish. But one hand tightens around the spine of it even as she uses the other to support herself on the shaky shelves. In her hands was _history _and _knowledge_. No matter how painful, how terrible, it needed to be remembered lest it be repeated.

"Sunshine?" a familiar and worried voice asks. She looks up to see Charon in the doorway, his hands on his shotgun and his eyes taking in her form. Taking in a deep breath and straightening her posture, she smiles at him.

"Hey, big guy. I found some neat stuff." She motions to her Pip-Boy, still playing the old holotape. "I think this is about a time traveling doctor or something. You think dad will like it?"

"You've been down here for nearly an hour," he says. "Your dad sent me down here."

"Oh," she says, cringing. "I forgot I told him I'd be right up. I guess most of the water will have drained out by now, huh?" He shrugs. She coughs a little, feeling the stagnant, moldy air of the room weigh down on her.

"Are you all right?" Charon asks, taking a step toward her. She nods a little too fast.

"Yeah," she says. "Perfect. I was thinking of going outside for some fresh air. Bounding down these steps wasn't the best idea, with all the water damage and mold and all." He nods and follows her out. She takes the steps two, some of the even three, at a time until they exit the basement. Once she's out of the Memorial, she takes in a deep breath of fresh air, stifling the cough that builds up in her throat. She keeps the ledger she found clutched to her chest, too painful to read and too important to destroy.

"Thanks for coming to get me," she says to Charon. She's looking right at him but he can't help but feel that she is looking through him.

"Anytime," he says. _Always. _

She smiles half-heartedly and tries to slow the beating of her pulse down enough to talk to him. They hadn't spent very much time together since they started work on Project Purity. She had been busy with her father and the other scientists. She'd spent all of her time and energy on getting Project Purity activated while Charon focused on keeping the Memorial defended. That hadn't left a lot of time for the two of them.

_There is no 'two of us',_ she chides herself. They had just been employer and employee (_master and slave,_ a darker part of her whispers. And they had been friends before she'd taken the rash and foolish step of kissing him in the metros of Grayditch.

Now she isn't sure what they were.

"I didn't mean to pull you from your patrol," she says a little shyly, lowering her eyes. "You don't have to stay with me. I'm just getting a breath of fresh air."

"I want to stay," he says gently. He clears his throat. "That is, stay to take a break. Been walking around all morning."

"It's early afternoon," she says.

"Guess I've been walking all afternoon too." She chuckles lightly, shifting on the balls of her feet. She fiddles with the ledger she had found and gently puts it in her pack, between _The Odyssey _and _Paradise Lost. _

"You find anything good in the lower rooms?" he asks, watching her shuffle through her pack. He tries to focus on the books she fiddles with but his gaze keeps getting drawn to her hands. His eyes follow the path up her arms until they come to the sunlight glinting off her blond curls.

"Eh," she says, not really wanting to talk about the ledger. "I found _The Odyssey _and a couple of holotapes. No big deal." She makes eye contact with him, swallowing past a dry throat. "You ever read _The Odyssey?"_

"I think so," he says. His eyes crinkle as if he were trying to remember something long since past. "That's the one with the boat, right? And the sailors. The astronauts?"

"Argonauts," she says. "Yeah, same thing basically. They were explorers. Adventurers. Heroes." She lets her eyes linger on him a moment longer than she should have before looking out toward the river.

"Is _The Odyssey _about their adventures?" he asks. He'd never really been one for books but he took a simple pleasure in hearing about them from her. He'd missed the sound of her voice more often than not the past few weeks they had been working on the Memorial. While walking through the Memorial he would pause if he heard her speak and try not to linger too long. He let the patrols keep him distracted, let the necessity of keeping her safe from harm drown out any of the other feelings he'd been trying so hard to stifle. But out here, with the sun shining brightly on them and the soft sounds of the Potomac, it seemed like they had all the time in the world to just enjoy each other's company.

"Partly," she answers. She thinks, partly of her house in Megaton and the Vault she had left behind. Thinks of Moira, of Lucas Simms, Gob and Nova. Thinks of Amata and Paul Hannon and even Butch DeLoria. Her new home and her childhood home. But her thoughts, despite themselves, keep getting draw back to the memories of her adventures with Charon. The nights spent around low campfires, scavenging the ruins of the Pre-War world. Of a stolen kiss in a dark metro and how she kept herself busy with the purifier because she couldn't bear it if she'd ruined the easy peace between them. The feelings of belonging, of being home and of love that she felt in his presence even now.

"It's mostly about going home."

* * *

"There you are, sweetheart!" James says, looking up from his clipboard. She grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. The things she had found in the lower basement seemed like a dream now and she pushed them to the back of her mind. There are more important things to attend to right now.

"Sorry, dad," she says. "I wandered off to explore." He laughs, ruffling her hair.

"No harm done," he says. "But next time try letting us know."

"I will," she says. "Sorry."

"Did you find anything useful in the basement?" he asks, looking to the Geiger counters and back at his clipboard. "Some of those rooms had been locked shut since before we started working on Project Purity the first time."

"No," she says. "Not really. A couple of books and some holotapes. Is the water cleared out enough for me to fix the fuse boxes?" He nods, setting down his clipboard and bending over to open a toolbox. He grunts a little, pulling a handful of large fuses out of it. He takes a moment longer to straighten himself than she thought he would and he rubs the small of his back as he hands them to her. He gives her a grin that is all at once hopeful, maniac and weary.

"The pumps are working, and some of the doors are opened, as you found out," he says. "That means we're making progress! The problem is that the water shorted out a few key fuse boxes. Take these fuses and replace the ones that have burnt out."

"No problem!" she says. She hadn't seen very many fuses boxes in the sub-basement and she doubted they would need many of the ones in the lower levels. For now they just needed enough power to get the terminals working so they could find a G.E.C.K. Her father, as if reading her thoughts, focuses his gaze on the lone terminal sitting next to the control panel for the purifier.

"We're so close now, sweetheart," he says. "We just need a G.E.C.K and we can get this thing running properly. I _know _we can." This is what they had been working weeks to achieve. Sunshine follows her father's gaze to the statute of Thomas Jefferson surrounded by so much swirling and irradiated water. Her father still looks as tired as he ever had.

"Where would we find a G.E.C.K?" she asks. "I thought they didn't exist."

"Yes, I didn't either," her father says. "But I found out differently when I went to Vault 112 and found Braun alive and insane." She shudders at the mention of Dr. Braun and his torture house. "We'd more than likely find them in a Vault."

"Like 101?" she asks and she hates herself for the little twinge of longing in her voice. She'd washed her hands of the Vault a long time ago-or tried to, at least. There remained a certain pain whenever she thought of the underground bunker that had been her childhood home.

"No, unfortunately," he father says. She wonders if he feels the same way about the Vault as she does. "It would have made our lives infinitely easier. But sadly, 101 wasn't one of those few gifted with a G.E.C.K." At her startled look, he adds, "I broke into the Overseer's Office one night, drunk on scotch, and I went through his terminal files." She laughs.

"You've done a lot of things I've never heard about," she says with a smile. He shakes his head, as if banishing some long forgotten memory and says,

"You have no idea sweetheart."

* * *

"Always with the sparks!" Sunshine jumps back as sparks fly when she pulls the breaker into the 'on' position. She brings her slightly scorched hand to her mouth as she hears the doors to the mainframe slide open. She smiles, feeling satisfied with herself. She hits the intercom button.

"Dad? Dad, I got the fuses into place."

"Wonderful!" he says, his cheer audible even through the decaying intercom. "With the fuses in place, you should be able to access the mainframe."

"Awesome!" she says, barely able to contain her excitement. "Can I go straight there?"

"Of course, sweetheart," her father says through the intercom.

"Ok," she says. "Be right back!" She lets go of the intercom button and all but takes off running toward the mainframe control room. She bounds up the steps excitedly and almost trips over her own feet in her excitement. She runs through the doors to see the large super computer that houses the mainframe sitting there like a giant electric monolith. She walks over and runs her hands over the keyboard almost reverently. Her hand finds the switch for the breaker of the mainframe and she grins to herself.

"Let there be light," she says, pulling the breaker into the 'on' position with a swift downward motion. The computer crackles to life and the humming of it booting up for the first time in almost two decades.

"You've done it!" her father's voice crackles through the loudspeakers. She grins and walks over to the intercom to talk to him.

"We did it," she says.

"It'll take a few minutes for the computer to fully boot up," he says. "Maybe a little longer. It hasn't been on in a while."

"What do you want me to do while we're waiting?" she asks. She's a little tired but too excited to rest. They're so close now and she couldn't bear to stop working on it.

"There are a few minor repairs to be made up here in the control room," he says. "But we've had a long day already."

"Aww," she says. "I'm good for it! Come on, I'll be right up and we can get started!"

"Sweetheart," he says sternly. "You've been hard at work all day trying to boot up the mainframe. Have you even eaten?" Her stomach rumbles loudly and reminds her that, no, she hasn't touched a bite of food since breakfast.

"Have you?" she retorts. She hears a soft chuckle.

"No," he admits. "I haven't."

"I'll make you a deal, Dad," she says. "We'll eat dinner and then get started on the repairs. Deal?"

"Deal," he says. "I'll see you in a minute, honey. Don't go wandering off again."

"I'll be right up," she says with a smile. She lets go of the intercom button and gives the buzzing mainframe one last fond look of accomplishment before making her way to the rotunda.

* * *

Always with the filler! The thing I've been dreading is coming up next chapter. I just wanted to put this up for you guys because I'm going to be busy for the next couple of days. But expect things to pick up next chapter. Thank you so much for reading, and especially for your patience of my love of a slow burn.


	41. Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Chapter Forty-One: Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

James and Sunshine weren't the only ones who decided a late dinner was in order. The Rivet City scientists sat in one corner of the ancient and tiny breakroom eating dinner. A low and companionable chatter echoes throughout the small space. Charon and Costello lean against a cracked wall, talking lowly of the patrols of the day. Abbott is still out on her shift and it is odd to see Costello without her. Dogmeat had been on patrol with Charon and he lies at the ghoul's feet, munching on some Cram. She smiles fondly at the sight, remembering how often Charon scolded her for 'spoiling the mutt'. Costello waves eagerly at her and she waves back just as vigorously. Charon catches her eye and she blushes, moving her eyes to focus on anything or anyone other than the ghoul.

_Just go talk to him,_ she thinks. But she finds herself frozen in place at the thought. Sunshine thought she would have been grateful for the time apart. But she found that it only made her longing for Charon stronger instead of quelling it like she had hoped it would. She hadn't meant to spend time with him earlier. Once she found herself in his presence it had been easy to fall into old habits. It had been easy to find her voice and bask in the simple pleasure of his company.

She turns from him and forces a smile to her father. James had moved to sit at an empty table away from the others. He shifts his shoulders and hands, ignoring the creaking and popping sounds that his joints emit. He seems frighteningly frail and lonely against the peeling wallpaper of the wall behind him, an island in a deserted wasteland and every bit as lonely.

"Let's see what we have to eat," she says, moving toward the fridge. The chatter from the Rivet City scientists ceases as they find it more interesting to stare at her.

"See something you like?" she mutters under her breath, more to herself than anyone else, and she opens the fridge to retrieve two Caravan lunches and bottles of irradiated water. She pours the water into ancient and chipped coffee mugs. She sets the mugs on an electric plate and feels victorious as it begins to heat up.

Once the water is hot, she mixes in some instant coffee and takes the food to her father. She ignores the stares aimed at her back from the Rivet City scientists. She tries not to let their gazes bother her but she finds herself asking her father,

"Do you just wanna take dinner back to the rotunda and eat while we work?" He smiles, almost relieved, and answers her with a slight nod. He stands to follow her and the two of them walk back to the rotunda in companionable silence. He holds the door open for her and they walk up the stairs to the purifier, her arms full of a makeshift dinner and her father's eyes alight with something like hope. James reaches for his cup and takes a sip of his coffee. He grimaces.

"Nothing quite like two hundred year old instant coffee to wake you up," he says. She smiles, taking a sip of her coffee and gagging.

"Yuck!" she says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "That stuff tastes like death rotted over!" He chuckles, reaching over for some Instamash.

"It's an acquired taste, I'm afraid," he says. "Perks of being an adult." She laughs, flicking the edge of a Dandy Boy apple at him. She stands, still munching on dinner, and begins a slow walk around the center of the purifier. There are places were the sealing around the purifier is cracked. She feels that familiar warm tingle of radiation and shivers. It would be so easy to flood this chamber with radiation, either through carelessness or by design.

Her father walks to the terminal and she hears the familiar clacking of typing. She crouches down to examine some aged wires and hears the Geiger counter on her Pip-Boy begin to slowly tick. _Tick-tock. Tick-tock. _It almost reminds her of those insufferable old clocks that hung everywhere in the vault, with foggy plastic and yellowing paper to count the numbers. She never knew that something so old could be so _loud_.

"Son of a bitch," her father swears and she bites back a childish giggle. It is still so odd to hear him swear, almost as if it was some strange and forbidden thing.

"Can't get it to work?" she asks, looking up from her inspection of the memorial.

"No," he grumbles. "Damned terminal password."

"Here," she says, standing and making her way over to him. She shoos him away from the computer and cracks her fingers. "Let me try."

"Yes," he says. "You've always had an uncanny knack for this sort of thing. Always worried me a little." She grins at the praise as her fingers begin to clack loudly across the keys.

"Says the man who hacked into the Overseer's terminal," she says.

"It isn't like the password was complicated," he protests. "It was-"

"Amata," they say simultaneously. They both chuckle at that and then fall into a companionable but morose silence, the clicking of keys being the only noise between them. She tilts her head as she gets an 'entry denied' message.

"You might want to find something to occupy yourself with," she says. "This may take awhile." James nods and begins busying himself with simple maintenance. Sunshine carefully keeps hacking the terminal, listening to the uneven humming of a machine that hasn't been turned on for the better part of 200 years. She loses herself in the simple motions of typing and the complex pieces of code that flash across the screen. She doesn't know how much time passes as she works diligently to hack the terminal. It's one of the harder ones she'd ever encountered and she wonders who locked it up so tight.

"Still at it, eh?" her father says and she tears her eyes away from the screen, blinking away the stray bits of code that linger in her vision. "I believe your mother was the one who locked that terminal, if I'm not mistaken. Back then, there were unscrupulous people highly interested in the research we were conducting and she wanted to make sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands."

"You serious?" she says, looking back to the terminal and seeing her surprised reflection staring back at her. James chuckles, nodding.

"She was brilliant," he says almost wistfully. "The smartest person I've ever known, other than you."

"Pfffft," she says. "You're smart. You're a genius, dad."

"No, I don't think so," he says, gently ruffling her hair. "Just inexplicitly lucky. Darling, it's four in the morning. You've almost been awake for a straight twenty-four hours."

"Have I?" she asks, stifling the yawn that threatens to bubble up at the mention of the time. "You've been awake even longer, haven't you?"

"Yes, and I'm not as young as I used to be," he says with a soft chuckle. "Instant coffee and determination can only keep me on my feet for so long. We should get some rest."

"But I almost-" she says, and this time she can't stop the yawn that interrupts her speech. Her father's chuckle turns to a full-blown laugh and he gently pulls her away from the terminal.

"Come along, honey. It'll still be here in the morning."

* * *

Sunshine stretches, yawning widely. She opens her eyes to stare a rusted and dull metal ceiling. She lifts her wrists to look at the time on her Pip-Boy, swearing when she sees the time. She scrambles out of bed, still in the same rumpled Vault suit as the day before, and makes her way to the intercom. She presses the button to speak.

"Dad," she says, trying not to whine. "You said you would wake me!" Her father's laugh crackles through the aged speakers, warm and familiar, and she can't help the smile that tugs at her lips.

"Sorry, honey," he says. "I thought you needed the rest."

"Well, I do feel better," she admits. "What do you need me to do?"

"There are still some more repairs to be made up here," her father says. "Why don't you come up here and give me a hand?" She nods to herself, rolling the kinks out of her neck.

"Sounds good. I'll be up in a second."

"All right, sweethea-wait a second."

"Dad?" she asks after a long stretch of silence passes. _Did the intercom break?_

"Janice says there is a blockage in one of the intake pipes. It's on your way back up here."

"Where?" she asks.

"Head up to the museum level," he says. "And give me a call on the intercom when you get there." Silence falls from the other end of the intercom and she takes that as her cue to get moving. She eyes her pack and plasma rifle leaning against her bed. Sunshine debates on taking them with her and then decides against it. She hates how naked she has started to feel without her rifle but it wouldn't be practical to take it with her into the intake pipes. The gun is too long and her pack would be too heavy. Besides, she is just going to go clear out a blockage. She'll be right back.

She walks up the stairs and out of the sub-basement. She sees Charon walking down the hall, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. She scolds herself for the way her heart begins to beat faster and she wonders if she can duck out of his way unnoticed. He turns his head ever so slightly and looks through her with half-lidded eyes. She meekly raises a hand in greeting.

"Hey," she says weekly. He smiles at her and the expression looks out of place on him. But she doesn't find it disagreeable. In fact, she thinks it looks quite nice on him. She feels her cheeks heat up but she keeps her eyes on his face. _Don't act weird, _she chides herself.

"Good morning," he says. "Or should I say good afternoon?"

"Did you sleep in late too?" she asks. He nods.

"Abbott and Costello never woke me for my shift."

"Yeah, Dad didn't wake me either," she says. "I wonder if the three of them conspired together."

"It wouldn't surprise me," he says. "Where are you headed?" She motions to the intercom next to the entrance to the intake pipes. She and Agincourt had cleared away most of the rubble covering the manhole that lead to the pipe system but huge, cracked chunks still littered the area around it.

"Dad needs me to clear out a blockage," she explains. She presses the cracked call button on the intercom.

"Now don't worry, sweetie," James' voice comes from the intercom. "This isn't dangerous at all."

"Of course not," she says, choosing not to remind him of the numerous dangerous situations she had found herself in before.

"Just get inside and use the manual controls to drain the pipe," he father says. "That'll break up the debris enough for the filters to function properly. I won't be able to contact you once you're in the pipes, but you'll exit near the cisterns. You can get in touch with me again there."

"All right," she says, grinning at Charon. "I'm going in. Don't wait up." Charon nods, smiling again and turning to look at the exit to the memorial.'

"Be careful, kid," he says. "I'm going to go find Abbott and Costello." Sunshine leans against the wall next to the intercom as Charon walks off. She watches him go and shakes her head at herself. She walks to the manhole and lifts the grate, ignoring the slow ticking of her Geiger counter. She drops down into the pipe and crouches down once she realizes she can't stand up straight.

Rust paints the metal pipe and she feels a little uneasy. There are faint lights that dangle from the top of the pipe but they are barely bright enough to show her the way. Shadows dance across the pipe and she feels pieces of pre-war trash beneath her hands and feet. She fights off the unnerving sense of claustrophobia and begins to move forward. She wishes she could talk to her dad. The pipe is shrouded in darkness and a metallic smell of the air begins to give her a headache. Eventually, her hands find another grate and she opens it. She slides her body through it and comes to a broken section of pipe. She looks up through the makeshift fencing that had been used to repair the pipe. She can see the sky, grey and overcast, above her and she breathes a sigh of relief. The air is a little fresher here too.

She reaches the valve control and sits up on her knees. Her hands find purchase on the valve and she grunts as she tries to turn it. Eventually, it loosens and the valve turns with a loud screech. She wipes a dirty sleeve across her forehead and smiles. Now, she can get back to her father and report in. Won't he be-

A loud explosion sounds out from in the distance. The pipe shakes violently around her and for a moment, she fears it will fall apart around her. A strange sound, like the beating of mechanical wings, overtakes her sense of hearing and she sees two large black machines falling from the sky.

_They're landing,_ she thinks. Those are vertibirds, although the only places she had ever seen such things were in holotapes.

"_Everyone_," she hears her father's voice speaking through the intercom system. It is faint over the sounds of buzzing machinery and she has to struggle to make out his words. Is that fear she hears underlying his words?

"_It seems we have visitors. I don't know who they are or what they want. Please_," she hears and, yes, that is a definite note of panic in his voice. "_Remain in your assigned areas until we get this sorted out_."

* * *

Charon finds Abbott and Costello leaning against one of the guardrails sharing a cigarette.

"Thanks for waking me," he grumbles. The two of them grin at him. Abbott quickly composes herself and jerks her head toward her partner.

"It was his idea," she says.

"No fair!" Costello says with a puff of smoke, still grinning from ear to ear. He holds the cigarette out to her. "So, have you talked to her yet?"

"Who?" Charon says, plucking the cigarette from Costello's fingers and deliberately ignoring the question. Costello grins.

"You know, she of the sunny disposition!" Abbott rolls her eyes and half-heartedly elbows him in the ribs. "The doctor's kid, the pretty little-" Costello never finishes his thought. A loud explosion sounds off in the distance and the catwalks begin to shake.

"What the hell is that?" Abbott yells, looking around them wildly. "An earthquake?" A deafening whirring sound fills their ears and air begins to whip around them like blades. The sound echoes in Charon's ears and a fear that he cannot shake fills his entire being. He drops the cigarette to the ground and it swirls away, carried by a vengeful and artificial wind.

"No," he says, watching the vertibirds-how long ago had he last seen one of those? One hundred years? One hundred and fifty?-begin to land. Troopers in power armor begin to pour out of the machines. His stomach lurches and everything in him tells him to run. But he stands his ground and keeps his feet firmly in place. _Sunshine,_ he thinks frantically._ She's in danger, I have to find her, she can't fight, barely knows how to hold a gun, I must protect the contract holder Ihavetoprotectthecontracthol deritstheonlythingI'mgoodforcontractholderI'monlygoodbecauseofher-_

"Boss?" Costello says cautiously, his rifle already in his hands.

"We have to evacuate everyone," he says, keeping his voice steady. "Do not engage unless absolutely necessary. Evade and evacuate."

"Who the hell are these guys?" Abbott asks, watching the troopers enter into the memorial sub-basement.

* * *

"_-Enclave? What in the hell are they doing here?"_ Her father's voice rings out over the intercom. Sunshine pulls frantically at the grate she came through. The filtration system locked it and she can't get it to budge. She moves to the other one, stumbling over herself in her haste, and begins to pull on it. She has to get to the rotunda!

"_They're where?"_ That's definite panic in his voice now and he is no longer making any effort to control it. "_Madison, lock that door-!"_ His voice cuts out abruptly and she fights back the panic that threatens to overtake her. She has to be calm and get to her father. She takes a deep breath and pulls at the pins keeping the grate leading to the sub-basement locked. They seem to take forever to slide out of their rusted places. The grate pulls open with a painful slowness and she slides through the opening. She finds herself in another cramped pipe and she begins to crawl as fast as she can. The pipe turns downwards and she follows, landing on half-rusted and torn grates as she continues her frantic descent. She feels sharp metal tear into her arms but she pays it no mind. She can only think of going down, of getting to her father, of the sounds of laser and plasma rifles that seem to echo up to her ears from the depths.

Once she lands on level pipe she tries to run, tripping over ancient tires and slamming against the rusted metal walls. She tears open the grate to the sub-basement and finds herself standing on the edge of the pipe. It hangs over the floor and she makes her way over to the edge. She can hear someone barking orders and through the fencing in front of her she sees people in strange power armor searching for something. She makes her way to the edge of the pipe and jumps down, tucking and rolling once she hits the ground. Pain shoots up her legs but she pushes herself up.

A weapon. She needs a weapon. Sunshine sneaks through the familiar hallways of the sub-basement, ducking into the shadows and hiding whenever she hears heavy footsteps become too close to her position. Oh God, she can hear screaming. _Who are they killing? Why are they here? Charon-_

She stops that train of thought. She has to get herself and her father out of her alive. Charon won't get killed. He's a good shot. _Charon won't get killed. I'll make it back to him. _She enters the sleeping quarters and sees her plasma rifle leaning against the bed. It is exactly where she left it when she woke up. She hurries over and grabs it. She swings her pack onto her back in the process. She'd started to travel light, only keeping the basics in her pack. She kept it with her at all times in case something like this ever happened.

An ear-splitting scream rings out through the air and she grits her teeth. She tightens her hands on her rifle and continues onward. She cautiously turns the corner to see one of those strange power-armored soldiers patrolling the hallway. She doesn't see anyone else and she can't hear anyone else's footsteps. She looks down at her rifle and back at the soldier. There is no way she can take that soldier out in one shot and she can't risk alerting the others. The soldier walks further down the hallway and her eyes move to the stairs. She has to make a break for it.

Sunshine pushes away from the wall and takes off running. Her footsteps echo loudly throughout the hall and the soldier turns around. He begins firing at her and she feels the heat from the bursts of laser flying past her. She turns as she runs, firing off desperate shots in an attempt to slow him down, and she pushes herself up the stairs. A scream lodges in her throat as she pushes open the door and sees the lobby of the memorial in complete chaos. A group of those strange soldiers rounds the corner, as though they were hunting in a pack, and she takes off running toward the rotunda.

* * *

"Damn it!" Charon swears, aiming his shotgun at the advancing Enclave soldiers. There had been a group of them guarding the entrance to the Memorial. They'd caught sight of Charon and his ragtag team of security. They were shooting at them with plasma and laser rifles. Charon's shotgun didn't seem to be doing anything against that damned armor. He ducks behind the wall of the memorial to reload his shotgun.

"You two get out of here!" he yells over the sounds of gunfire.

"We can't just leave!" Costello yells back. He is still on the catwalk, firing at the Enclave soldiers below him. He can't see Abbott at all. The soldiers that were looking for him turn their attention to Costello. Charon eyes the unguarded entrance and back to Costello. He fires his shotgun at the soldiers with their backs turned to him and bites back a victory cry when one of them falls.

"Go!" Costello calls. "I'll be fine!" Costello is surrounded and being bombarded by laser and plasma fire. Being on the catwalk gave him the advantage of showering the advancing soldiers with bullets from above but it also kept him exposed. He couldn't hear Abbott-had she been taken out?

"Go!" Costello calls again. "These fuckers can't-" his voice gets cut off as his eyes widen. He looks at Charon, his happy-go lucky expression gone, and then he begins to melt. Green goo drips from the catwalk where Costello had stood. Charon grits his teeth and slips into the memorial before the remaining Enclave soldiers can think to search for him. It's been awhile since he'd seen a fellow soldier die and it never got easier, despite what they had told him. There is no glory in battle, no virtue in death, no honor in sending young men to die for the sins of their fathers-

He fights his way into the lobby and sees a flash of blue with a yellow '101' facing him like a target dart past. He keeps his voice in his throat and follows past the debris and the ash piles. He pushes the door to the rotunda open to see the center of the room locked with James and Janice still inside. Li looks on with dead eyes and hands clasping the fabric of her lab coat. Sunshine runs up the stairs and tries the button to open the bulkhead door.

"By the order of the President," an unfamiliar voice says. "This facility is now under United States control." Charon inhales sharply. "The person in charge is to step forward immediately and turn over all materials related to this project."

"That's quite impossible," James says, his voice calm and level. If there had been any fear, he'd learned to suppress it. He is once again strong and seemingly invincible. "This is a private project. The Enclave has no authority here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The man in the trench coat sneers.

"Am I to assume, _sir," _he says with disdain. "That you're the one in charge?"

"Yes," James answers with conviction. "I am the one in charge of this project."

"Then I hearby repeat, _sir,_ that you are instructed to immediately hand over all materials related to the purifier."

"I'm sorry, but that's-"

"Furthermore," the man impatiently interrupts. "You are to assist Enclave scientists in assuming control of the operation and administration of this facility _at once!" _

"Colonel," James starts. "Is it colonel? I'm sorry but this facility is not operational. It never has been. I'm afraid you're wasting your time here." His voice is smooth and persuasive but the colonel doesn't seem to buy it.

"Sir," he says and the finality in his voice sends chills down Sunshine's spine. "This is the last time I will repeat myself. Stand down at once and turn over control of this facility!"

"Colonel, I assure you that this facility will not work," her father gently urges, trying to convince the man in the trench coat of this. "We've never been able to successfully replicate test results…" But he had never been as good with words as he had with sickness and his pleas fall on indifferent ears. The colonel pulls his gun from his holster and aims it at a terrified Janice. He pulls the trigger and Janice dies with a scream lodged in her throat. Sunshine bites back a cry and her hands cover her mouth in abject horror.

"I suggest you comply immediately, sir," the colonel says evenly, as if he didn't just murder a woman. "To prevent any more incidents. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Colonel," James spits. "Crystal. I'll do whatever you want. There is no need for anymore violence."

"Good," the colonel says. "Then you will hand over everything and aid us in making this purifier operational."

"Of course," James says with a hard edge to his voice. "Give me a few moments to get the systems online." Sunshine furrows her brow. The systems were already partly online. They hadn't been able to restore full power yet. _What is he planning? _Her father's back is turned to her but she can see him at the control panel for the purifier. Her heart beats against her chest so hard it hurts. She can't really hear anything past the sound of the blood pounding in her ears.

"My patience wears thin," the colonel says.

"Just a moment," James says. "I'm just collecting the files." There aren't any files to be accessed at the control panel. All of the files would be stored on the terminal and-

An explosion sounds next to the central part of the purifier. Charon tenses as he feels the warmth of radiation wash over him and Sunshine's Gieger counter begins ticking in maddening and rough rhythm. The soldiers in the central control room begin to cough and clutch at their throats. The colonel wheezes, coughing violently and falling to his knees. Sunshine begins pressing buttons, trying to force the bulkhead to open. But it is sealed shut and so she starts banging her fists against the glass. Her father limps to the bulkhead door and she bites back a sob as he forces a smile.

"Run," her father whispers, his hand laying flat against the glass. Sunshine presses her hand against the glass as though she could reach through and grab him. She shakes her head. "Run!"

"Dad," she says. His eyes close as he slumps forward against the glass. His hand slides down the glass to hang limply at his side. Her father falls to the ground and lays unmoving. Her fists slam against the glass of the bulkhead in time to the ticking of her Geiger counter. "Daddy!"

""It's no use," Li whispers, her voice quiet and her eyes vacant. "He's dead."

"He isn't dead!" Sunshine says, her voice frantic and desperate. "We're getting him out. We _have _to get him out!"

"I have to get you out of here," Charon says, moving toward her cautiously as though she were a frightened rabbit. "You'll die of radiation poisoning if you stay."

Sunshine doesn't seem to be listening, instead trying to override the door controls.

"No," Sunshine says again and her voice cracks. "I'm not leaving. We're not leaving him. We're getting him out!" Charon moves to stand behind her.

"Sunshine," Charon says, wrapping an arm around her waist. He'll throw her over his shoulder if he has to. If she makes him. "We have to move."

"No!" she snaps, pushing at his chest. "I'm not leaving him!"

"And I'm not leaving you," he says. His hands tighten on her waist and his fingers tangle in the fabric of her Vault suit. He will drag her out kicking and screaming if he has to. _Protect the contract holder,_ his mind whispers, _even though you couldn't protect the one thing most precious to her._

"He's my father," she says, her voice breaking.

"I know. I'm sorry," Charon says and he means it with all of his heart. If he could reverse this and bring James back, he would in a heartbeat. But he can't and there is no use dwelling on what can't be done. He has to get her to safety. He pulls her away and she doesn't resist. Her eyes linger on her father's still form and Charon's eyes linger on her.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

ASDFGHJKL *cries*


	42. Bleak Tunnels

Chapter Forty-Two: Bleak Tunnels

_He knows who tries it how cruel is sorrow,__a bitter companion, to the one who has few__  
__concealers of secrets, beloved friends. _– _The Wanderer-_Anonymous

Sunshine doesn't cry.

It isn't that she doesn't want to. God, she just wants sink the floor and lose herself in her misery.

But there isn't any _time._

_My father is dead. I couldn't protect him._ She doesn't care about escape, about the Enclave, about Project Purity because what good would all of that be without her father? He was the reason she was out in the wasteland. He had been that single shining glimmer of hope for her in this hellish world and he had been snuffed out.

To protect what they had been working on, what he had spent her entire life running away from. _I couldn't protect __**him**__._

She swallows thickly, her feet pounding against the broken tiles of the memorial as the three of them rush to escape those demons in power armor. Charon speaks to her, has been speaking to her since he pulled her from the purifier, but she can't focus on his words. She catches familiar syllables and words. _Sunshine. Sorry. Please. _But she doesn't respond. She just follows, his hand gripping hers to the point of pain, and says nothing.

Li unlocks the grate to Taft Tunnels with a brutal efficiency, lifting the manhole and gesturing to Charon. Agincourt, Garza and Dargon are already in the tunnel and they frighten like rabbits when the manhole opens. Dogmeat is with them and he gives a short bark at the opening of the grate. Li gives them words of encouragement that Sunshine doesn't hear. Charon wraps his arms around Sunshine, cradling her to his chest as though she were a child, and jumps down to hit the hard ground. Li looks quickly from side to side before climbing down into the tunnel, pulling the manhole cover closed behind her and locking it with a deafening click. Sunshine leans into Charon, her face pressed against his shoulder and tries to focus on what needs to be done next. He keeps an arm loosely around her waist to support her but he can't stop the way his fingers clench and unclench the fabric around her hips.

He doesn't want to let go of her.

"Thank God someone else made it out," Dargon says with a heavy relief in his voice. "We heard gunshots. Who are these people?" Agincourt pushes past him and roughly grabs Sunshine, pulling her away from Charon. The ghoul growls, deep in the back of his throat, and reaches for his shotgun. Agincourt's hands are fisted in the front of Sunshine's vault suit. Dogmeat begins to bark wildly.

"What the hell is going on?" he demands wildly, shaking her roughly. She doesn't react, just looking at him with empty eyes that make Charon's heart clench.

"Daniel!" Li snaps, moving toward him.

"I better not find out that you or your father had anything to do with this! If that son of a bitch sold us out-" Agincourt never finishes his sentence. Sunshine's eyes widen, as though she were seeing him for the first time, and she lets out a choked, broken sound. She pushes Agincourt away from her with a surprising ferocity and follows him as he stumbles back against an aged metro wall. Her left hand grabs his throat, keeping him pinned to the wall, and with her right she hooks him in the jaw. She pulls herself up to face level with him, and says quietly,

"My father is dead, asshole." Agincourt's eyes widen in shock and Charon sees regret flicker across his face.

"Oh hell," he says. "Kid, I'm sorry-"

"Save it!" she snaps, pushing away from him. Her entire form shakes as she struggles to regain some sense of calm. She takes in a deep, shuddering breath and her mouth clamps shut to stem the tide of sobbing that wells up in her throat. Her eyes lift up to meet Charon's and he has never felt so helpless underneath her eyes than he does at that moment.

"We have to escape while we can," Li says, cutting straight to the point. She takes a tentative step toward Sunshine, who doesn't acknowledge her. "Catherine!"

"Don't call me that," she says, her voice dull.

"We need you," Li says firmly. Sunshine scoffs.

"_What_?"

"You heard me." Sunshine turns her gaze away from Charon to look at Li incredulously.

"You need me?" she says, laughing and it is a hollow and bitter sound. "Of course you do. You need me and Charon. You all are scientists, and with two thirds of our security force gone, we're the only ones who can protect you."

"We have the Enclave behind us," Li says. "And who knows what ahead of us. You have combat experience." Sunshine's laughter turns almost hysterical and the rest of them tense up, moving away. All of them except Charon. He moves closer to her, watching her shaking her head.

_All the times they excluded us,_ she thinks. _All the lonely glances my father gave them. All the shit Agincourt said. The way they would discreetly leave the room whenever I walked in. _She looks at them, really looks at them. They're all scared and trembling, staring at her with worry creasing their faces. She wants to be vindictive, _wants to leave them to rot,_ because why should they be alive when her father is dead? Her father, who poured his heart and soul into this project. Her father, who poured his heart and soul _into her._ He had been better than all of them, worth more than any of them, and more precious to Sunshine than her own life.

"It's not fair," she whispers. She feels a warm presence grasp her hand and she looks down. Her pale, thin hand pokes out from underneath the shape of a ruined one. She fights the urges to both push Charon away and pull him close.

He makes the decision for her.

He pulls her into a tight hug and looks down at her like he knows what she is thinking, what she is feeling. She wants to rail against, wants to beat her fists against his chest until he leaves her because how could he know what this feels like? How could he know how empty she feels inside?

"It isn't fair," he says quietly. "But we have a job to do. We have to get these people out."

"Why?" No sound comes out of her throat, but she mouths the words before she can think better of it. She feels her face burn in shame as soon as she mouths it but she can't stop the bitterness that wells in her heart. Why them? Why did _she_ have to be the only one of them to lose anyone?

"Because that's what you do," Charon says gently. "You are the 'hero of the wastes'."

"That's just what Three Dog calls me," she says with a weak, forced smile. "False words to give hope to a dying wasteland."

"It isn't just that," he says. "You're a good person, and it shows." Tears well up in her eyes and her throat burns with the effort of holding them all in.

"I'm not a hero," she whispers, her voice cracking. "I'm just a kid who got kicked out into the wasteland, and didn't have the good sense to die."

"Your father put a lot into you. He raised you right," Charon says, with a tone that sounds both savaged and broken by grief. His hands grip her shoulders and she feels his desperation in the warmth of his hands. "And you've done more than your fair share. I know you have. But don't give up on me now, Sunshine. Don't let that light in your eyes go dim. They need you, and so do I_._" His tone is soft, non-judgmental and so tender that she could kick herself for ever doubting that he knew exactly how she was feeling. Other than her father, the only other person to know her better than she knew herself was Charon.

She nods her head and gently presses her hands against Charon's chest. His arms drop from around her and she takes in another shuddering breath. She takes her plasma rifle in hand and looks toward the Rivet City scientists.

"Who here can use a gun?" After a long moment, Agincourt softly speaks up.

"If you have a pistol, I can usually hit what I'm aiming at." She nods, shouldering her pack off down her arm and opening it. She remembers finding an old battered pistol in the sub-basement and fixing it up with the intention of selling it to Flak and Sharpnel. She hands it to Agincourt instead.

"Anyone else?" she asks. When no one responds, she turns her back to them. "All right. Stick close. We're getting out of here."

* * *

The Taft Tunnels are bleak and ruined things. Trash floats in pools of irradiated water and the group has to move slowly incase the enemy lurks around the corner. A strange floated eyebot that Sunshine had seen around the wastes from time to time whizzes past them. It doesn't react to their presence but Charon aims his shotgun and blows it apart anyway. Sunshine nods. The eyebot probably had a camera feed to whoever programmed it. The Enclave knew they were coming, with or without the camera feed. But a false sense of hope was better than no sense of hope at all.

She looks back at the team of scientists following her. They're scared, breathing heavily and trembling. She hopes Agincourt doesn't have to shoot his gun. He shakes so violently that he would miss whatever he aimed at and do more harm than good. It dawns on her that these people had fought their way to Rivet City and then put up their arms in the name of civilization. They worked on bettering the world around them, becoming soft and complacent. They are not warriors; they are scientists. They are needed, just as her father was needed, just as Abbott and Costello were needed, and she'll be damned if she lets another person die.

With her heart heavy with grief and determination, she marches forward and with her plasma rifle gripped tightly in hand.

They come across feral ghouls and the sounds of their guns echo throughout the tunnels. Sunshine winces as she fights because she knows that the echoes of gunfire will draw worse enemies to them. The ghouls scream and howl, swiping at them with deadly claws. The sight of them still makes her heart pound in her chest and her throat dry. They still terrify her but she shoves that fear aside because they have far worse enemies waiting for them in the depths of the tunnels. She can hear the pounding of feet clad in power armor echo throughout the halls like war drums. She motions for the Rivet City scientists to follow her. She signals to Charon and he nods, signaling that they should set up an ambush. She fights her way through the feral ghouls that still live and leads the scientists to a rundown maintenance closet.

"What are you doing?" Li demands. She tries to make her voice full of indignation but it doesn't work. Her fear bleeds through and Sunshine feels almost sorry for her.

"They're coming," she barks, a little more forcefully that she meant to. "I need you to stay in here and _hide._" Li hisses and Sunshine is sure that she's wounded the other woman's pride.

"We can't just skulk away, hiding in here like molerats," she says and her voice takes on a note of shrill panic. "You can't just _leave us here!_"

"Madison!" Sunshine snaps, and they both wince at how much like her father she sounds. She swallows past the pain in her throat and says, in a gentler tone, "You're all civilians. You've grown lax surrounded by the safety of Rivet City. I can get you out of her but I _need you to trust me._ Can you do that?" Li looks at her as if she considers distrusting the girl. A thousand memories flash through her eyes and she finally nods.

"All right," she says quietly. "I'm trusting you not to leave us behind."

"We're just going to scout ahead, clear the way," she says. "Get to the back of the room and don't make any noise. We'll come back for you." She kneels down to Dogmeat, taking his face in her hands, and says,

"Hey buddy. I need you to stay here and protect Dr. Li and our friends. Can you do that for me?" Dogmeat whines lowly, nudging Sunshine's leg with his nose. She pats his head almost sadly, and her fingers curl in his fur.

"Sunshine," Charon's voice sounds out, quiet and urgent. She forces her hand away from Dogmeat's fur.

"I know," she says, shutting the door behind her and hiding behind an ancient Pre-War barricade. Her plasma rifle weighs down her hands and she feels as though she is drowning, weighed down by death and ozone.

"The entrance is at our six," Charon says, his quiet voice grounding her to reality. She nods, gripping her rifle tighter and waiting for the horde in power armor to burst through. Her breath echoes shakily in time to the footsteps and the Enclave soldiers burst through the door with a loud bang. She forces herself not to startle at the sound.

The stillness in the air crackles with a tense electricity as the soldiers do a brief scan of the room. _Don't find us. Don't find us. Please._

"Huh," one of the soldiers says. "Must've been nothing." Charon catches her eye and puts a single finger to his mouth, urging her to be quiet. She nods, gripping her plasma rifle to her chest and forcing herself to relax.

"Or it's those damned ghouls," another one says. He takes off his helmet, running a hand through his hair and exhaling in a shaky breath. _Is it possible for monsters to be afraid?_ "I hate those fuckers." Charon takes a deep, steadying breath and cocks his shot gun. He pops up from behind his barricade and shoots the undefended soldier in the head.

"Shit!" The soldiers reach for their weapons in a flurried panic. 'Fucking ghouls!" Sunshine braces her rifle against her soldier and exits her barricade. She shoots an Enclave soldier, a woman, just as she turns to fire her laser rifle at her. She chokes, and her armor begins to melt into that green goo that Sunshine will never get used to seeing. It takes her body with it, setting her flesh aflame until nothing is left but an ugly, bright green stain.

Sunshine can't bring herself to feel any remorse, not with the death of her father still burning hot and bright in her heart.

"Well," she says, aiming her gun at the last soldier, who drops his weapon and holds his hands above his head. "You were only half right." The soldier shakes violently, like he suffers from radiation poisoning. His helmet clanks against the rest of his power armor where it connects. Sunshine takes a step forward, gun raised, and he whimpers softly. Charon sees the determination in her eyes, the hard set of her mouth, the heavy tenseness in her shoulders, and he sees himself reflected back at him.

An unbearable pain blossoms in his chest as though he'd been shot.

"Sunshine," he says softly. She stops her advancement, but does not lower her weapon.

"What?" she asks, a hard edge to her voice.

"I know what you're thinking, kid," he says.

"Of course you do," she says. "Don't tell me you don't agree." Charon moves his eyes between her rifle and the Enclave soldier. His gun still lies at his feet where he dropped it, and he makes no move to retrieve it.

"Soldier," Charon says to their captive. "Remove your helmet." The soldier's hands shoot jerkily up to his helmet, causing Sunshine to flinch and tighten her hold on her rifle. "_Slowly!"_ After a brief moment's hesitation, the soldier removes his helmet and drops it to the floor with a loud clank.

"Goddamn it," Charon swears, taking in his wizen and wrinkled cheeks and bright, watery eyes. He looks over to see the resolve in Sunshine's eyes wavering. He rolls his shoulder, trying to remove the tenseness in his muscles, and ignores the pain behind his eyelids. Behind the curtain of his mind a voice screams '_protect the contract holder! Do what you were trained to do!'_ He is eager to pounce and the sound of a phantom shotgun echoes in his ears.

"Sunshine," he says again. "He's afraid and unarmed."

"My father was afraid," she says, her voice hollow. "He didn't even have his pistol with him." She tilts her head, looking through the Enclave soldier,swears she can see the boy he used to be reflected back at her. "Is this a common practice of the Enclave? Going in and killing innocent people? Killing people who are trying to make the world a better place?"

"Please, ma'am," the old man croaks. She jerks forward, aiming the rifle at his head. He flinches violently and a low keening sound escapes his throat.

"Answer the question!" she shouts, her voice echoing off of the metro walls. She trembles, the image of the old Enclave soldier swimming back and forth across the sea of her vision. Charon watches the old soldier tremble, watches him trying not to cry, and he takes a step toward her.

"Answer me," she whispers, her voice a broken and pitiful thing. Charon wraps his arms around her, his hands closing around the butt of the plasma rifle. He remembers teaching her how to shoot and a sick dread pools in his stomach.

"Let go of the gun, Sunshine," he says against her ear. "This isn't you." She shakes, watching the old soldier shaking too, and sighs.

"Get out of here," she says quietly. The old man seems to collapse in on himself in relief.

"Much obliged, ma-"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" Her voice is a roar, a desperate and ugly thing, laced with rage and regret. The man runs as though he'd just learned how, like a child stumbling away from monsters in the dark. Her hands let go of the rifle and Charon holds it up, his arms still around her. She swallows past a burning throat, the taste of bile on her tongue and she exhales slowly.

"We have to keep moving," she says.


	43. Won't Someone Come Home?

Chapter Forty-Three: Won't Someone Come Home?

_Keep moving. _She repeats the words to herself like a prayer. The steady pounding of their footsteps as they march on sounds in her head. It's the only funeral dirge her father will get. _Don't,_ she tells herself. _Later,_ she thinks even as despair threatens to crumple her. _Mourn later. Keep moving. _

_Gone._

_ Dead._

_ Keep. Moving. _

She leads the front of their fearful entourage, checking around every corner and jumping at the slightest shadow. Charon brings up the rear in an effort to protect the backs of the group. The Rivet City scientists run between them, terrified and shaking. She tells herself not to look back at Charon. _Don't look back. Don't look back. Leave it behind you._

_ Move. _

_ Just keep moving. _

The group rounds the corner to see corpses of feral ghouls piled over the broken concrete. Sunshine inhales sharply when she catches sight of the unmistakable scorch marks left by laser fire. _Where are they? _ She tries to focus her hearing but she can't hear anything past the pounding of her heart beating in her head. Cautiously, she moves forward and motions the others to do the same. She steps over the bodies of the still smoking ferals.

Even though she's on the lookout, muscled coiled tight like a snake and nerves cocked like a gun, they still get the better of them. Enclave soldiers appear to seemingly melt from the walls, shadows and nightmares made real. One of them runs toward her, metal boots echoing around the tunnel, with a laser rifle raised. Sunshine raises her plasma rifle in return.

'_There,' _her father's voice sounds in her mind. '_Just aim and shoot. You'll be fine.' _She takes in a deep, shuddering breath and aims, moving out of the way of the laser fire. The Enclave soldier tries to avoid the plasma shot but ends up running right into it. Plasma begins to melt though the chest plate and an ungoldly screaming replaces the echoing of the power armored boots. She starts shooting at the other Enclave soldiers, her mouth set in a thin and grim line.

'_Good work,'_ her father praises. '_That's one less radroach to deal with.' _

Sunshine makes the Rivet City Scientists a priority, trying to keep the soldiers off of them. They were next to a large fork in the tunnel, one leading off further into the tunnels and the other leading to their destination-the Citadel, Li had said. Charon fires his shotgun with ruthless efficiency, shooting off power armored limbs like a grisly surgeon and Dogmeat fights faithfully at his heels. Agincourt fires his pistol, barely puncturing the power armor and _what in the hell was she thinking, giving him just a pistol?_ Dargon cowers, but every once in and while throws debris at the soldiers in an act of either defiance or desperation. Garza leans against the wall, clutching his heart with Dr. Li beside him but Sunshine pushes that from her mind as a soldier tries to melee her with an empty laser rifle.

She moves out of the way, dodging the melee attack and trying to use the soldier's momentum against them. They attack again, and so does she. She knocks the butt of her rifle against the soldier's head, sending the helmet flying. A woman snarls at her and she knocks her against the wall, further away from the group. She lays the rifle across Sunshine's throat, trying to choke the breath out of her. Sunshine thinks of her father crumpling underneath the radiation flooding the purifier, unable to breath, the whisper of his last word to her.

Rage, heavy and white-hot, fills her being and she finds the strength to push against the soldier. She knocks the rifle from her hands, grasping it in her own, and knocks her across the face with it. The soldier stumbles and falls, a dark red bruise blossoming over her face. Sunshine knocks the stock of the empty laser rifle into the woman's head again and again until all she can see is red and the woman has long since cease moving. Charon's shotgun blasts bring her out of her violent stupor and she drops the rifle, bloody stock ground first, and retrieves her plasma rifle.

She holds on to that rage as she attacks the Enclave soldiers that try to swarm Charon. She's on one side of the divide and he's on the other with Dogmeat, Agincourt and Dargon. She starts making her way to him letting her anger fuel a fire in her. A soldier flanks her, knocking into her, and she starts fighting them. The power armor gives the soldier weight, making them heavier and stronger than her. Charon sees her struggling and turns his shotgun toward them.

"Sunshine!" he calls over the sounds of battle. Sunshine understands the order hanging in her name and she fights the soldier so they are facing Charon. He shoots the shotgun multiple times, ignoring the Enclave that approach him.

"Shit!" one of the soldiers say. "We have to separate them. Drop the gate!" Sunshine drops the listless body of the soldier who attacked her and her eyes meet Charon's for a split second. She's sees a panic light up his eyes like a nuclear blast and a rusted metal gate slams down between them like the resounding shockwave.

"Charon!" she cries, the sounds of shotgun blasts ringing in her ears. She runs over to the gate, dropping her rifle next to her feet. She crouches and tries to lift the gate to no avail, the sounds of battle sounding muffled and far away yet so dreadfully close at the same time.

"Charon! Charon, please! Please no! Not him! Not him too, please!" she begs fruitlessly. She hits her fists-her tiny, ineffectually _useless_ fists-against the metal of the barricade. But it does not budge and she fights back the urge to sob, to collapse, to simply stop moving once she can no longer hear the sounds of Charon's gunshots.

"Please," she whispers thickly. She thinks of her father again, collapsing under the radiation, whispering one last final word to her.

_Run._

"Sunshine, they're coming!" Li's voice rings out in a panic. She's supporting Garza, one of his arms slung over her shoulders and his other hand clutching his chest. He's breathing heavily, high pitched wheezes echoing off of the tunnel walls. "We can't stay here!"

Sunshine knows Li is right. Death comes nipping at their heels. But she remains crumpled there, eyes wide and seeing only the specter of her father, falling and dying over and over.

_Run. _

God, she'd thought they had finally found a place to stay. A place where they could do good and stay and _live._ Everything was supposed to be alright. It was supposed to be just the three of them: her, her father and Charon.

_Charon. God, Charon. I never-_

"Catherine, we have to move!"

They were going to make the purifier work and save the wasteland. It was supposed to be the three of them, always, finding a home in each other. She had thought that they had finally made it home and that they would never have to run again.

_Run, _the flashbulb ghost of her father pleads behind her eyelids. She exhales slowly, fingers reaching for her plasma rifle as if grasping for an old lover. She stands, straightening her shoulders and eyes looking forward, completely dry. A hand snakes down to her belt to wrap around her last grenade.

"Go," she says softly, still hearing shotgun blasts ringing out. "And I'll cover you." She takes the grenade off of her belt and pulls the ring out with her teeth. She rolls it down the hallway just as Enclave soldiers round the corner.

_Run, and live._

She lets the sound of shotgun blasts ring in her ears, long after she's left the gate behind.

* * *

"We have to stop!" Li says over Garza's painful breathing. He's trying to control it, trying to keep it quiet, but his face has gone pale and his breaths keep getting shallower the further they press on.

They can't stop.

Sunshine keeps moving, eyes darting around and looking for danger. Li stops, gently helping Garza lean against a wall, and she marches up to her.

"God damn it, Catherine, I said we need to stop!"

"Don't call me that," Sunshine mutters out of habit more than anything else. She looks at Garza with a pang of guilt. She doesn't know how far behind the Enclave are and doesn't care to find out.

_We have to keep moving._

"Garza is sick. He has a heart condition," Li says, sounding both matter of fact and terrified at the same time. "He needs treatment or he isn't going to make it." Sunshine looks over to Garza, slumped against the wall and panting. She walks over to him, taking his chin in one hand and placing the fingers of the other on his pulse. It beats a song too hard and too fast against her fingertips

"Heart arrhythmia?" she asks, and sees Li's stiff nod of confirmation. "Son of a bitch." _We don't have time for this. The Enclave could be on us any minute._ She looks into Garza's eyes and he gives her a weak smile. He's fading fast. She could give him buffout to keep him going but that would, more likely than not, end with him seizing up and having a full blown heart attack. She worked with this man. He had never made an effort to get to know her but he had never rejected her either, not the way Agincourt had. He's soft spoken and kind. A good man.

Charon would leave him to die if it meant her safety and the thought pains her. Charon would leave him to die but he wouldn't want her to be like him. The thought of Charon burns in her chest, painful and comforting all at once. She still tells herself that she can hear the shotgun blasts echoing though the tunnels.

She doesn't know if she can take losing someone else.

"We're not losing anyone else," she says, and Li's shoulders sag in relief, as if she expected her to leave Garza to die. The thought stings a little but she refuses to dwell on it. She has more important things to worry about. "I have stimpaks in my pack and I'll set up traps around this room. Treat him as fast as you can. I'll scout ahead and clear out any enemies." Li walks past her but pauses for a moment to put a hand on her shoulder.

She says nothing, but Sunshine can see the gratitude lighting up her eyes. She turns from her to get to work. Garza and Li take refuge in a circular room, two entrances and no windows. Sunshine dutifully sets up trip wires across both doorways. She looks behind her to see Li injecting stimpaks into Garza, being uncharacteristically gentle as she treats him. She looks forward and reloads her plasma rifle.

She grips her plasma rifle like a lifeline, uses the feel of the weathered stock to keep her grounded. Her hands shake and she tries to think of anything but her father crumpling underneath radiation. Of how that metal gate cut her off from Charon and the fear she saw in his eyes. Of all the things she felt for him and never had the nerve to say. She thinks of anything but how much she has lost since she woke up to Amata's fearful pleading and finding her father gone.

Anything but the BB gun her father and Jonas fixed for her when she was ten, and how different it felt to kill a person compared to a radroach.

* * *

The feral ghouls run toward them, screeching and glowing with foul radiation. Sunshine aims her rifle at them with a snarl. They're almost out and she'll be damned if she lets these ghouls keep them from making it. But she doesn't have to worry. One of them gets taken out by a shotgun shell and she allows an absurd hope to bubble in her chest.

"Cha-" A figure rounds the corner, clad in grey power armor, and takes out another. She clamps her mouth firmly shut, dams the tears behind her eyelids and takes out the last feral ghoul with a shuddering breath.

"Son of a bitch!" the Brotherhood of Steel Paladin exclaims. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Making our way to the Citadel," Sunshine says dully.

"Jesus, you civilians better get topside and fast," the Paladin says. "This place is crawling with Enclave." She nods stiffly and watches as Li and Garza climb the service ladder out. She looks back behind her, expecting to see nothing but hoping to. The path remains empty except for dead feral ghouls and a Paladin shaking his head, muttering about 'goddamn tourists'.

She numbly climbs up the ladder and opens the grate to the sunlight. She lets Dr. Li take the lead, following behind her almost listlessly. Her entire brain capacity seems to only be working to keep one foot in front of the other, eyes cast toward the wasteland dirt. She almost runs into her when Li stops in front of another Paladin without his helmet.

"I am Doctor Madison Li," Li starts, and Sunshine can barely comprehend her words. "I have people in need of shelter. You must let us in at once."

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the Paladin says, but his sneer indicates he is everything but sorry. "But there are no unauthorized civilians allowed in the Citadel. You'll have to leave now." Li runs toward the intercom, shoes slapping against the broken concrete. The Paladin raises his minigun but Sunshine is on him in an instant. She shields Li and aims her plasma rifle at his head.

"You think you can get a shot off before I kill you?" he scoffs.

"This thing has been known to burn," she says softly with no inflection or emotion. "Or melt. Do you want to find out what it'll do to you?" His eyes widen slightly. Li's voice rings out loudly behind her.

"Lyons! I know you're in there!" she cries, panic and rage soaking through her voice. "I know you can hear me! You open this goddamn door right now!" She hits the intercom with a closed, shaking fist. A loud screeching rings through the air like ancient screams and the large door to the Citadel creaks open. Sunshine watches the Paladin lower his weapon and doesn't lower hers. Li pats her shoulder, snapping her attention away from the Paladin.

"Come on," Li says softly. Sunshine lowers her gun and becomes focused once again on keeping one foot in front of the other. _Keep moving._ She can't remember why it is important to keep moving but it is something to latch on to that isn't the thought of her father or Charon and Dogmeat. She buries the pain down deep in the graveyard she created to keep the memories she'd rather soon forget. Li stops again and Sunshine doesn't run into her this time.

"Madison," an unfamiliar voice says. Sunshine glances up to see an elderly man in purple robes before looking back down at her boots. He sounds calm and kind in the face of Li's anger. "I'm surprised to see you here. What can I do for you?"

"Don't patronize me, Lyons!" Li snaps and her voice shakes. "I had nowhere else to turn. You must help us! Project Purity has been overrun."

"Yes, I had heard reports of an incident there," he says thoughtfully. "I have men guarding the perimeter to the Citadel and Rivet City. What details can you give me?"

"The Enclave came enmasse and attacked Project Purity. There may be more. I don't know. James-" Li's voice hitches and Sunshine works to block out the pain. "James is dead. The rest of our group was separated from us. You have to do something. Please!" Lyons sighs heavily.

"Then it is as we feared, Madison. I am sorry. I wish I could have done something to prevent this." His voice hangs heavy in the air and he turns his gaze toward Sunshine.

"Then do something now! They've taken over the purifier, Lyons!" Li pleads, desperation and sorrow overshadowing the anger. Her voice trembles as if she is trying not to cry. "They can't keep it, Owyn. It isn't right!"

"Now now," he says, his voice gentle. "You know the purifier doesn't work. It is useless to them. Perhaps it is time to walk."

"No!" Li says forcefully. She straightens, composing herself. "No, that won't be necessary. James found out what it needed to make it work. This girl-" and here she motions to Sunshine. She doesn't lift her head. "She knows."

"Ah," Lyons says and Sunshine hears his soft footfalls walk toward her. "Look up at me, child." Sunshine lifts her eyes dully and hears a quiet intake of breath.

"I see the resemblance," he says and Sunshine fights not to wince. "You are the spitting image of your father."

"Sunshine Maddox, sir," she says and the nickname tastes foul around her lips. "Our friends," she starts, and she hates the way hope lights up in her heart. "The ones we got separated from?" Lyons nods to show her to continue. "They know to meet us here. Daniel Agincourt and Alex Dargon. They're with a friend of mine, Charon. He's a ghoul and I'd appreciate it if you told your men to hold their fire." It's the most she's said since they left the tunnels and she's surprised she managed to get so much out of her mouth. If Lyons is shocked or disgusted by the information, none of that flashes across his face. He simply nods.

"Of course," he says. "I'll relay the information to all of the patrols." She nods, her throat suddenly dry.

"We'll talk about Project Purity when they get back, yeah?" She wills her voice to not sound so small but to no avail. Lyons hesitates, reaches up hand as though to place it on her shoulder, and lets it drop back to his side.

"You have my condolences," Lyons says gravely. "Your father was a good man." Unable to speak, she nods stiffly. Lyons turns, taking a radio from a blonde woman in power armor, and speaking commands to keep an eye out for the rest of their group. The blonde woman stands next to a tall, grim faced man and Sunshine can read what they think of the chances of the rest of them being alive are in their eyes. She looks away as Li places a hand on her shoulder.

"They can help us," she whispers. "Especially Rothchild. But watch yourself. I have never trusted them." Sunshine nods and Li walks away with a slight trembling to her step. Sunshine turns to walk to the outer part of the Citadel when she hears a voice ring out,

"Hey!" She stops as she hears heavy footsteps jog up to her. She looks over to see the blonde woman stop beside her.

"Still causing trouble?" Sarah Lyons smiles sadly. Vargas stands, solemn and silent, behind her.

"Lyons," Sunshine says, her own voice sounding foreign and distant to her ears, the names almost sounding like gibberish. "Vargas."

"Come on," Lyons says. "Let's go keep an eye out for the rest of your group."

* * *

The concrete's jagged edges dig into her back but she doesn't notice. Sunshine sat outside the Citadel with her eyes pointed toward the Jefferson Memorial, wide but unseeing. Her plasma rifle leans against her chest and she hugs it as though it were a security blanket.

She doesn't know how long she'd been sitting there, waiting for any sign that their group had lived. Any sign that Charon had lived. She could have been here for hours or days. For all she knew, she could have starved years ago and her ghost was too stupid to realize she was dead.

The Potomac sits in front of her, eerily still despite the sunlight dancing off of it. She doesn't think of how purifying the water of the tidal basin could have eventually meant the purifying of the Potomac.

_I am Alpha and Omega._

_ He's heavy, almost too heavy for her. She ends up having to drag him to the water, watching his feet make streaks in the bloody wasteland dirt._

Sunshine curls in on herself tighter, watching the water, and the plasma rifle hugged to her chest. Vargas stands watch a few feet from her, keeping his eyes on her more often than the horizon. He can't help but think of that bouncing kid who took out a Behemoth with a fat man and who hugged him so quickly after Initiate Redding's death that he could barely feel her arms wrapped around him. The woman who sits a few feet from him looks like a shade hungering from something she will never find again.

_The beginning…_

_ "It's just you and me now, Sunshine," _ her father's voice echoes in her ears as a ghost being carried on the dry wasteland wind. "_Just you and me. But that's all right. As long as we've got each other, that's all that matters." _

_And the end._

_ "Run! RUN!" _

She keeps her eyes toward the water, blocking out all sound and all visions except the river. The river started all of this and it would end it. Even here she can see how dirty it is and she wonders how anyone lived out here at all. How anyone survived.

_I will give to him that is a-thirst…_

_ Her breath ghosts along the cracks and tears that mar his old skin. She pretends they're roads leading to destinations along the way. _

She hardly breathes, slow and shallow breaths that hardly move her chest. She's quiet, sitting there and watching the water as if it were the only lifeline she had left, the only thing that kept her connected to this world. If Vargas couldn't see the slight rise and fall of her chest, he would have assumed she died right where she sat.

_The waters of life freely. _

"_The one with the astronauts? Is that what it is about? Their adventures?"_

_ "It's mostly about going home." _

She wants to bring herself to hate the water, to hate the dream that killed her father. But to hate the water would be to hate her father and that is something she could never do. The Potomac was a little like her God now-it giveth and it taketh away. But it always remained unfeeling and indifferent to the suffering of those around it.

The surface of the water breaks and for a moment, Sunshine is convinced she is watching her own mind implode on itself. Shaggy fur rises from underneath the Potomac, covered in river sludge and panting happily. Following the shaggy figure two humanoid figures rise up, coughing and clawing at the mud that covers their clothes. She sees the dirty white of a lab coat underneath. She sits up slightly, not quite believing her eyes, convinced that she's finally snapped.

"Hold your fire," she faintly hears Vargas says. A final figure emerges from the water, taller and broader than the rest. Dark mud covers ruined skin and he trudges toward the shoreline like a monster out of one of the Vault's old holotapes. Sunshine barely registers the clattering of her plasma rifle hitting ruined concrete. She doesn't feel the rocks that dig into the worn soles of her shoes, doesn't register that if she is going to run then she needs to breath more.

Nothing seems real until she slams into the figure, her hands running over slick river mud and patchwork skin as if trying to convince herself this is real. She looks up into blue eyes, still full of life behind the milky film of them. She doesn't say anything as she wraps her hands around the back of the figure's neck and pulls him down to meet her lips.

He clings to her as fiercely as she clings to him. The kiss between them is a desperate and needy thing, an affirmation that they are still alive. She can taste the river on his lips and she deepens the kiss, wanting to taste life, to taste him. He runs a shaky hand through her hair, gripping her closer as if he couldn't believe she was real either.

He doesn't push her away. In the back of his mind he thinks he should. He thinks of all of the reasons this is a bad idea. But he kisses her back, letting the feel of her mouth ground him and bring him back. He drinks of sunlight and the waters of life from her lips.

When they pull away, Sunshine buries her face in his chest and finally allows herself to cry.

* * *

Look who is back from the dead! Two laptops, tendinitis and a college degree later, I finally get this chapter out! It's great to be back and sorry for making you guys wait so long!

I've missed this.


	44. The Grief that Does Not Speak

Chapter Forty-Four: The Grief That Does Not Speak

"May I start by saying how sorry I am for your loss? I was acquainted with your father, many years ago. The world has lost one of its few remaining visionaries." Sunshine smiles stiffly. She wishes everyone would stop saying how sorry they are for her loss. She knows they mean well and they probably even mean it sincerely. But condolences and apologies flood her lungs and cut off her air supply.

"Thank you for your sympathy," she says quietly. "My father was indeed a visionary." God, she's already thinking of her father in the past tense. He _was _her father. He _was _a visionary. Things _were _going to be alright.

They _were _never going to have to run again.

"Think nothing of it," Scribe Rothchild smiles gently and Sunshine is reminded of a grandfatherly figure, the last in a world without grandfathers. But she keeps Li's warning in mind and treads carefully. "Now, Madison told me a little of your predicament. You need to locate some Vaut-Tec equipment?" Unable to trust her voice, Sunshine simply nods.

"A G.E.C.K," Charon says from beside her. "James was looking for a G.E.C.K." Rothchild'sface furrows and his mouth sets into a hard, thin frown.

"Are you quite sure? I suspect it would be a waste of time. Regardless, the Brotherhood isn't in possession of such a device. There is, however, a way we may be able to ascertain the location of one." Sunshine nods, and Rothchild continues speaking. "We have an old Vault-Terminal. It may have the location of a G.E.C.K. I can give you unrestricted access."

"Please do," Sunshine says softly, and Rothchild moves to an ancient terminal. He begins to type furiously as he talks.

"You'll find the terminal in the archives in the A ring," he says.

"Thank you," she whispers, still not trusting her voice. Even in those two soft words she can hear her voice crack. She turns to leave Rothchild behind. Charon follows her as they make their way to the laboratory's exit. Sunshine looks down at the floor, following the way her feet walk over the broken tile and concrete underneath. The edge of Dogmeat's fur creeps into her vision every view steps and she finds herself reaching over to pet him more often than not.

"So," he says quietly. "Did you see the giant robot?" Sunshine's eyes briefly look up to see the giant robot in the center of the laboratory. The metal monolith stands, eerily still and rusted, and looking every bit like something out of her childhood imagination. She sees the statue of liberty carved into the side of the robot's large foot.

She likes it. She knows she does. Any other time she would be staring in wide eyed wonder and gleefully begging the Brotherhood Scribes to let her help to reassemble it. But she can't make herself feel anything other than a dull emptiness and indifference to the machine.

"Neat," she says, and they both wince at her empty her voice sounds. They leave the laboratory and the robot behind to make their way to A Ring. To Charon, the walk seems drawn out and the air heavy. She isn't talking.

Charon doesn't fancy himself a conversationalist. Words fail far more often than bullets do. But he's grown used to, and even fond of, Sunshine's voice during their travels. He found the way she seemed to talk to keep the silence from weighing heavily on them endearing in a way.

He's never felt the weight of silence with her like this before.

"Excuse me?" a voice calls. "Maddox?" Sunshine hisses through her teeth as though burned and stops. They turn to see an older woman in worn and dented power armor. She's kept her hair short and the silver strands contrast against her brown skin. Sunshine forces herself to meet the woman's eyes and sees that they look kind.

"Hi," she says softly, as though Sunshine would scamper off it she spoke any louder. "I'm Star Paladin Cross. I knew your father." Sunshine's heart clenches and she wonders if the pain of her father's death will ever go away or if it is something she is just going to have to get used to.

"You knew my father?" she asks, both to be polite and in an effort to learn more about the man her father was. There was so much to him she hadn't known. "It seems everyone around here did." _Everyone but me,_ she thinks and then hates herself a little for the bitterness that threatens to taint her father's memory. Star Paladin Cross nods, smiling softly.

"And you as well! Long ago, I helped to defend the memorial from the super mutant horde. When your father left, I escorted the two of you to Megaton."

"Did you know my mother too?" she blurts out and she doesn't know why she asked it. All she'd ever had of her mother was one faded and worn photograph, the stories her father told her in loving nostalgic detail and a single holotape so she could listen to a voice she'd never heard. She wasn't grieving her mother, not the way she was grieving her father. After all, she couldn't grieve someone she had never known. Star Paladin Cross's smile turns even softer and sadder, and with a pang of guilt Sunshine finds that she hates this kind woman for that.

"Yes. She was a smart woman, one of the smartest I'd ever know. Determined to provide clean water to the wasteland. Both are rare in their own right in a wasteland like this but she was also one of the kindest women I knew, which I've found the rarest trait of all." She pauses to look at Sunshine with those kind and _pitying _eyes again. "I've heard from Galaxy News that you're a lot like her, and your father too." Sunshine can't bring herself to answer her so she smiles. It feels like the smile cracks her face and that pieces of her are going to fall away any second.

"I'm on my way through A Ring, the Vault Tec terminal," she says, trying to keep the pleading from her voice. _Please don't talk to me anymore about my parents. Please don't look at me that way. I can't bear it. _Star Paladin Cross nods.

"Of course. I won't keep you from your work," she says. She smiles, a genuine smile even with the hint of sympathy behind it, and Sunshine knows it's wrong to hate that smile. She knows Star Paladin Cross, and all the rest who offered condolences mean the very best. She knows that she wasn't the only one who loved her father. But with every condolence and look of sympathy, Sunshine finds herself holding onto anger to chase away grief. "Your parents would be very proud." She nods, holding the smile in place, and turns to leave. She walks down the hall with her eyes pointed downwards again and purposefully tries to avoid running into more people. She opens the door at the end of the hall a little more forcefully than she means to and relief washed over her when she sees the room is empty of people.

She moves to the Vault-Tec terminal and swiftly gets to work. The clacking of the keys echoes through the room instead of words. Charon leans against the wall and silently watches her work. She stops typing after a while and reads the screen. She grips the edge of the desk until her knuckles whiten and Charon can see her shoulders shake.

"Sunshine?" he says cautiously, pushing off of the wall. He reaches a hand out to touch her shoulder but she speaks before he can touch her.

"Fine," she chokes out. He lowers his hand. "I'm fine." She takes a slow, deep breath and runs an unsteady hand through her already tangled hair. "I just…" she says, letting her voice trail off. She stares at the information on the terminal screen like she's looking through it.

"Sunshine?" he asks again, softer this time, and she snaps out of it.

"I," she says, speaking as if she didn't want to talk at all. "I want to go home." Charon almost doesn't hear her; she speaks softly with her voice barely above a whisper. She turns to him but keeps her eyes downcast. She pets the top of Dogmeat's head.

"Back to Megaton," she says but he knows that isn't where she means.

"Then that's where we'll go," he says, speaking in that same soft tone as though she were a frightened animal. "Get the information you need?"

"Yes," she whispers. "Vault 87 has a G.E.C.K."

"Then come on," he says and he does his best to smile reassuringly. The skin of his lips pull back from his teeth and make him look as though he is ready to eat her alive. But she understands him and smiles back anyway. It's a hesitant and dull smile but a smile nonetheless. "Let's go back to Megaton."

They leave the Vault-Tec terminal behind. Sunshine walks beside Charon in silence and he does his best to guide her away from other people. She flinches every time another person speaks to her and stays quiet until they leave them.

Until Daniel Agincourt finds them.

"Hey, Sunshine," he says unsurely. She freezes and Charon sees her eyes drift closed and she mouths the words 'almost out'. She opens her eyes, the mask set firmly in place, and turns to face him.

"Agincourt?" she replies back. She tries to keep the uncertainty from her voice but it bleeds through anyway.

"Hey," he says. He stares at her and she shifts uncomfortably. He stares at her as if trying to come to a decision, taking a deep breath as if to brace himself for a punch. "I wanted to say I'm sorry about your father."

"Don't," she says. Her voice shakes and sounds small, as though she were a child again. "Please."

"Sunshine," Daniel says, taking a step toward her. She takes a step back into Charon and on instinct he places his hands on her arms to steady her. He rubs her arms up and down and her trembling slows. Li cautiously moves from behind Agincourt, staring at her with dull eyes, and Sunshine wishes she could ignore the fact she was there.

"I am sorry. I was an asshole. Your father was a good man," he says quietly and it is the _was _that stings the most. Tears well up in her eyes but she keeps them from falling down her cheeks, seeing Agincourt through a blurry focus. "And I'm not stupid. You and Charon saved my life. Alex and I would have never made it out of those tunnels if it wasn't for him. And you saved Madison and Garza. I owe you. We all do. Anything you need, you let me know." She tries to say thank you. She really does try. But as soon as she opens her mouth all that comes out is a sob. Agincourt steps closer and places a hand on her shoulder.

"You did the best you could," he says softly, his face creased with a sympathy she thought he only reserved for Li.

"I want to go home," she chokes out pitifully and she hates herself for her weakness.

"You're just going to cut and run?" Li asks, the first words she's spoken, but her voice doesn't drip with anger the way it had when she'd confronted James. "You're just going to _hide?" _They hang in the air heavy with grief.

"Madison," Agincourt says. "That isn't fair." Sunshine can't say anything. Her throat throbs with pain and tears stream down her unwilling cheeks. Li looks tired and defeated through the haze of tears. Charon's hands tighten around Sunshine's arms and she leans back against him. She wants to say she isn't going to hide, that she promises to come back, but all she wants to do is hide herself away until her heart either stops hurting or stops beating. Li can read all of this in her eyes. She sighs softly, running a hand through her tousled and graying hair.

"Like father, like daughter," she says listlessly. She turns to leave and calls over her shoulder, "Don't make me wait another twenty years."

Sunshine turns and flees the Citadel, Dogmeat at her heels and Charon at her side.

* * *

"We have to stop by Rivet City," Charon says and Sunshine flinches. They needed to tell Harkness about Abbott and Costello. Her heart aches at the thought of the Rivet City Security guards. Her father had not been the only one to die and, though Charon had not given her the details of his fight to the concourse of the memorial, she knew what kind of weapons the Enclave wielded. Laser and plasma did not grant an easy death.

When they reach the front of the ship, Sunshine hesitates to walk in. Charon notices her reluctance and says quietly,

"I can do it, if you need." Unable to speak, she nods. _Coward, _she thinks viciously to herself. She lowers her eyes from Charon and startles when he places a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. He's gone and she leans against the aged and rusted metal of the ship. She stares across the river at the Jefferson Memorial and bares her teeth back in a snarl at the small figures that patrol the perimeter.

Enclave.

She feels a hatred set fire to her heart and it's a heat she's never felt for anyone in her entire life. She holds on to that heat, lets it burn her, because otherwise she would drown in her sorrow. But that determination doesn't stop the tears that roll down her face and she hates that too.

A loud bang singling that a door has been pushed roughly brings her out of her thoughts and she looks up to see Harkness. He must have run, she thinks dully, before looking away from the pained look on his face.

"Abbott and Costello," she says numbly, the thought of her friends tearing a wound in her heart. "They got killed because of me. I'm sorry."

"Oh, sweetheart," Harkness says and his voice sounds raw with grief. In an instant, she's gathered up into his arms against his hard-_mechanical-_chest. "Oh, Sunshine, don't say that." She hugs him back, sighing deeply. She tries her best not to cry but a few tears fall onto his security uniform anyway.

As they leave Rivet City, she reaches for Charon's hand. His weather palm rests warmly against hers and his fingers keep hers safe.

* * *

The wasteland passes by them in a dull and dead blur. It all looks the same out here but Sunshine finds a morbid comfort in the dead grass, dried lakes and ugly wasteland dirt. No sparkles out here, nothing shining except the hot sun, hanging high in the sky like a child with a magnifying glass.

They made it to Megaton in half the time they normally did. Sunshine refused to stop for sleep and Charon quit trying to force her to because she wouldn't hear it. When she ate, she ate while walking and keeping her eyes ahead of her, not acknowledging what she was putting into her mouth. She fed most of it to Dogmeat when she thought Charon wasn't looking.

Maggie Creel and Harden Simms run up to her as they entered the gates of Megaton, clamoring for her attention with stories of the things they had done while she was away and of how much they missed her. She smiles, though it doesn't reach her eyes, and kneels down, pulling them both into a hug. She sits on the hill that leads to the back of her house, ignoring how the ancient and rotted wood pokes into her thighs, and listens to the children as they regal her with stories of endless adventures and childish conquests. Charon leans against a scrap metal wall and watches her force smiles and laughter for the sake of Maggie and Harden.

Eventually, others in town wander to where they are, eyes hooded with sympathy. Billy Creel walks over to sit next to her, offering her a Nuka Cola and wraps his arm around her shoulders, calling her 'dahlin' and 'sweetheart' every once in a while. Moriarty watches her over the crowd, eyes dark and alight with a strange sympathy, and she avoids his gaze. She doesn't want anyone's sympathy but his seems almost insulting, as if he were just waiting for her to break to pieces. Leo Stahl hovers at the edge of the crowd, unsure of himself, and Charon notes that he looks much healthier than the last time they were here. Moira bounces up in her usual way, announcing to Sunshine that she's found a broken jukebox 'that I'm sure you can fix up in a jiffy!' and Charon notices that while she acts no different than usual, her voice sounds quieter and her hands on Sunshine's shoulders are more gentle.

Eventually, Sunshine breaks away from the group to go with Moira. Charon pushes off the wall to follow her but she turns as she hears his footsteps soft and heavy behind her.

"Charon," she says, and she places a hand on his bicep. "You don't have to follow me. You must be tired." She smiles wryly. "My fault. I was eager to come back." Exhaustion weighs his bones but he can fight it. He doesn't need as much sleep as she does and sleep is something she shies from right now.

"I will follow wherever you lead," he says. He lifts his hand and, after debating with himself, rests it against her cheek. "I am not the only one who is tired." She leans into his hand and he runs his thumb over the hollow of her cheek. Her skin warms his weathered hand and she looks up at him. Dark circles hang underneath her eyes, making her look gaunt and impossibly young.

"Charon," she says softly. "I'll be fine. I just need to keep busy, you know? You shouldn't be dead on your feet because of me."

"Are you sure?" he asks. He knows she wants to be alone and he's so tired it hurts but he's afraid to leave her, as if she'll wither away whenever he isn't looking. But she smiles the way she's always smiled at him, and nods.

"Get some rest, big guy," she says, knocking against his shoulder. "I'm gonna go check out that jukebox, okay?"

"I shall wait at the house until you return for me," he says quietly.

"I'll be home soon," she says and a thrill dances down his spine at the way she calls it 'home', the way that implies it is as much his as hers. "Don't worry." She turns to leave with Moira and he watches her walk up the ramp to Craterside Supply. He tells himself not to worry but he can't stop the way he notices her vault suit hang off of her or the shaky way she walks.

Sunshine doesn't like leaving Charon behind anymore than he likes being left but if she were being completely honest with herself, she feels guilty. She had all but demanded that they go straight from Rivet City to Megaton with no stops except to defend themselves from raiders. She'd refused to sleep, had tried to refuse to eat and drink, focused solely on keeping one foot in front of the other. The pace she had kept had been brutal for her and she knew it had been for Charon as well.

She knew she needed sleep. She couldn't stay up much longer without collapsing. But she couldn't keep herself distracted while she slept and, for the first time in a very long while, she feels fear at the prospect of her dreams.

Moira chats idly about nothing in particular and nothing serious. She talks about her theories about Mirelurk intelligence, about where she'd found the broken jukebox and how much she thought Sunshine might like fixing it up. Sunshine appreciates the other woman's enthusiasm and feels a fierce affection for the eccentric shop owner; she knew Sunshine would prefer to stay busy and had given her something to occupy her time.

"Hey kid!" she hears a familiar and gruff voice call. She turns to see Jericho leaning idly against the railing in front of Moira's shop smoking a cigarette.

"Mother fucker," she swears. She isn't in any mood to deal with Jericho's shit. It must show on her face because Jericho simply laughs.

"That would be me," he says. He pushes himself off the railing to walk toward her. She keeps his gaze, unlike the last time she saw him. To her surprise, he smiles.

"You're gettin' tough, you little shit," he says almost affectionately. "That's good. Tough keeps you alive."

"What do you want?" she asks, ready to get this talk over with. He walks past her, motioning for her to follow her.

"Come get a beer with me," he says. "I'll even pay for it."

"What," she says, not trusting her ears. He stops, annoyance radiating from him in waves.

"I said let's go get a beer. You fuckin' deaf?" She gives Moira a bewildered look and Moira shrugs in response. She looks back at Jericho, saying to Moira,

"We'll move that jukebox in the morning. Thanks again."

"Okie dokie," Moira says cheerfully but she eyes Jericho distrustfully. Sunshine follows him to Moriarity's in silence. Jericho stays silent, pushing the door to the saloon open. She blocks the door from closing on her with her arm, pushing it open a little rougher than she needed to. Jericho sits at his usual barstool and Sunshine plops down on the one next to him uncertainly.

"Two beers," Jericho declares and Gob looks between the two of them in surprise.

"Hi Gob," she says quietly.

"Hey kid," he says, handing the beers to them. His fingers brush against hers and he takes hold of her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She forces a smile, giving his hand a soft squeeze back before letting go.

She sits with Jericho in complete silence, watching him down his beer, then a vodka, then a scotch, while still nursing the first one he bought her. He keeps looking over at her every so often, as if to make sure she's still there, and continues drinking. He drums his fingers on the table and jitters with a sort of nervous energy.

It takes her until his fifth drink to realize he has something he wants to say to her.

It isn't until his eighth drink that he finally says it.

"I lost him," he slurs, motioning with his drink. "My dad." Her heart clenches at his words as though she'd been struck in the chest but she stays silent. He mulls over his drink for a few long seconds before speaking again.

"I was 15. We were out on a run, just me and him, gathering supplies for our camp. We'd thought the area was safe so we had our whole attention focused on looking around. In fact," he says and he laughs bitterly. "We were so fuckin' focused we didn't hear the fuckers come up on us until my dad took a shishkebob blade to the chest." Sunshine swallows, her throat dry, and she takes another drink of her beer. When she finds her voice, she croaks past the film of beer and pain,

"Why are you telling me this?"

Jericho looks at her as if seeing her for the first time. He sets his glass down on the bar with a dull thud and leans in close to her. She stifles a gasp and forces herself not to jerk away in surprise.

"The guys who killed me dad took me in," he says as if telling her a great and terrible secret, a mad light in his eyes. "Raiders. You know what I did?"

"What?" she whispers.

"I killed every son of a bitch that was there that day and took over their whole operation," he says, his voice absent of pride but brimming with satisfaction. He cuts a sidelong glance to her. "You ever find out who offed your old man?" Forcing the tears back at the memory, she nods.

"Yes," she whispers. "I saw."

"He dead?"

"Yes," she says again.

"Better than the son of a bitch deserved, I expect," he almost snarls, and Sunshine startles at the sheer venom in his voice. "You want help tracking down the other bastards, I'm good for it."

"What," she says again, not quite believing her ears. Jericho pays her no mind, instead focusing on drinking the booze in front of him as fast as he can manage. "Thank you," she eventually says. Jericho chuckles.

"God damn, but aren't you sincere," he says. "This is why I don't run with you; shit like that will get you killed. But, you've done good for this town and you're good to Nova and I-" at this, his breath hitches and he hiccups. "I know what it's like to lose your old man." Touched, she simply places a hand on his shoulder and squeezes. In spite of their usual mutual dislike, or maybe even because of it, he laughs.

"Go on, you stupid, sweet thing," he says gruffly, shrugging her off. "Before you make me soft."

She stands up from the stool and waves goodbye to Gob. She leaves Jericho to his drinking and walks into the cool night air. Darkness had fallen while she was in Moriarty's saloon and she looks up at the stars. With a tender ache she remembers those yellowing pages that showed faded constellations and how her father had know each of their names. He'd described them with a reverent awe and made light shows in her room of them. The stars become blurred and she looks down at her feet, following the faded trail back to her house.

She enters quietly and shushes Wadsworth as he tries to greet her. She'd almost say he huffed as he floated away and she makes her way up the stairs. The door to Charon's room lays open and she seems him draped across the couch. She thinks, with a pain, she'd really ought to get him a proper bed, one that his feet don't hang off of, and adds that to her to-do list for in the morning. She only needs the one extra bed now and pushes the thought away forcefully.

If anything else, it will keep her busy.

Charon sleeps so quietly as if he were dead and she stands in the doorway watching him to see him breathe. His head lolled against the wall and he is half sitting, half laying down, as if he'd been trying to wait up for her. She walks in and scoops up the discarded blanket at his feet. She drapes it over him and keeps looking at him breathe. In the back of her mind, she knows she should leave; it's weird to watch people sleep. But all she can think of was how close she'd been to losing him too and that she has to make sure he keeps breathing.

Before she realizes it, her hand reaches out to rest softly against his weathered cheek. She can feel his warmth against her palm underneath the broken skin and exposed muscle. Calling Charon beautiful would have been a bald-faced lie; he is patchwork skin and exposed tendons, hard edges and a killer's instinct. A ferryman who looks like death himself.

Charon is also warm and kind and gloriously _alive_ and he's the most beautiful person she's ever met. She can't deny the love she feels for him, not now. Not after everything.

His eyes open to look at her and his hand slowly comes to rest on hers, as if giving her enough time to move away. She would have moved before, would have blushed and stammered and fled from him. But she keeps her hand on his cheek, her thumb gently brushing along his cheekbone and his hand covers hers with a finality she should have found frightening.

She is so tired of running.

"Hey," she says softly. "Didn't mean to wake you. I'm going to go to sleep soon. Promise." He nods, not saying anything but she sees everything he wants to say in his eyes. They shine with varying shades of worry and relief, dark with apprehension and a sort of banked fire behind it all that sends chills down her spine. He looks at her as if deciding to do something rash and he tilts his head further into her palm. Cracked and misaligned lips press into her palm in a soft kiss.

"Good night," he says quietly. "Have sweet dreams."

* * *

"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up o-er wrought heart and bids it break"-_Shakespeare, Macbeth_


End file.
